Municipals finished mixed as N.Y. TBTA, King Co., Wash., deals sell

Top-rated municipal bonds finished mixed on Monday, according to traders, who were seeing the first of the week’s new issues hit the screens.

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose one basis point to 2.01% from 2.00% on Friday, while the 30-year GO yield held steady from 2.84%, according the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.50% from 1.48%, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.34% from 2.32% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.87% from 2.86%.

On Monday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.9% compared with 86.2% on Friday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 99.0% versus 99.5%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 33,376 trades on Friday on volume of $9.56 billion.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 56.13% of new issuance in the week ended Sept. 29, up from 56.08% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds made up 37.64% of total issuance, up from 37.56%, while taxable bonds accounted for 6.23%, down from 6.36%.

Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Sept. 29 were from Oregon, Colorado and Illinois issuers.

In the GO bond sector, the Oregon 5s of 2018 were traded 41 times. In the revenue bond sector, the city and county of Denver, Colo., 5s of 2032 were traded 76 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Illinois 5.1s of 033 were traded 23 times.

BB-100317-MUN

Previous week's top underwriters
The top municipal bond underwriters of last week included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Securities and Piper Jaffray, according to Thomson Reuters data.

In the week of Sept. 24 to Sept. 30, BAML underwrote $2.11 billion, Citi $1.81 billion, Morgan Stanley $1.40 billion, Wells Fargo $837 million, and Piper Jaffray $790 million.

BB-100217-UNDER

Primary market
Action kicked off in the short-term competitive arena on Monday as the New York’s Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority sold $400 million of Series 2017A general revenue bond anticipation.

The issue was won by six groups including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Securities, Barclays Capital and RBC Capital Markets:

· Citi won $150 million, taking $100 million with a bid of 2% and a $384,000 premium, an effective rate of 0.925430% and taking $50 million with a bid of 2% and a $193,000 premium, an effective rate of 0.919840%;

· Morgan Stanley won $150 million taking $100 million with a bid of 2% and a $385,000 premium, an effective rate of 0.922630% and taking $50 million with a bid of 2% and a $193,500 premium, an effective rate of 0.917050%;

· Goldman Sachs won $25 million with a bid of 2% and a $96,750 premium, an effective rate of 0.917050%;

· JPMorgan won $25 million with a bid of 2% and a $96,500 premium, an effective rate of 0.919840%;

· Barclays won $25 million with a bid of 2% and a $96,250 premium, an effective rate of 0.922630%; and

· RBC won $25 million with a bid of 2% and a $96,250 premium, an effective rate of 0.922630%.

The TBTA’s BANs are rated MIG1 by Moody’s Investors Service, SP1-plus by S&P Global Ratings, F1-plus by Fitch Ratings and K1-plus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Also on Monday, King County, Wash., competitively sold $148.01 million of Series 2017 limited tax general obligation refunding bonds which are payable from sewer revenues.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.55%.

The issue was priced to yield from 1% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 2.80% with a 4% coupon in 2033.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

But the main event begins on Tuesday when the Dormitory of the State of New York sells $1.7 billion of general purpose state personal income tax revenue bonds in five competitive offerings.

DASNY will offer $530.94 million of Series 2017B bidding group 2 bonds, $530.065 million of Series 2017B bidding group 3 bonds, $529.595 million of Series 2017B bidding group 1 bonds, $86.8 million of Series 2017D taxable bonds and $21.845 million of Series 2017C tax-exempt bonds.

The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

And on Thursday, RBC Capital Markets will price DASNY’s $301.48 million of school districts and financing program revenue bonds in five series.

The Series 2017 F, G, H, I and J carry various ratings ranging from Aa2 and Aa3 from Moody’s to A-plus from S&P and AA-minus from Fitch.

In the negotiated sector on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs is expected to price the San Diego Unified School District’s $220 million of Series 2017 general obligation bonds.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AAA by Fitch.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expected to price the Maine Municipal Bond Bank’s $184 million of Series 2017 C and Series 2017 D refunding bonds on Tuesday.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

In the competitive arena on Tuesday, Columbus, Ohio, will offer $314.13 million of various purpose bonds in three separate sales.

The deals consist of $285.82 million of Series 2017A unlimited tax bonds, $19.51 million of Series 2017C taxable limited tax bonds and $8.795 million of Series 2017B limited tax bonds.

The deals are rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Primary bond market Secondary bond market New York State Dormitory Authority
MORE FROM BOND BUYER