Municipals strengthen as market sees a bit more supply price

Top-quality municipal bonds were stronger at midday, traders said, as the market was seeing a lull in issuance with only two major deals slated to hit the screens.

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell one to three basis points from 1.93% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped as much as two basis points from 2.75%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Treasuries were also stronger on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 1.32% from 1.36% on Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped to 2.22% from 2.28% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.80% from 2.86%.

The 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.5% on Tuesday, compared with 85.5% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 95.9% versus 96.2%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 37,825 trades on Tuesday on volume of $7.81 billion.

Primary Market
In the competitive arena, the Florida State Board of Education competitively sold $144.23 million of Series 2017A full faith and credit public education capital outlay refunding bonds.

JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.72%. The issue was priced to yield from 0.77% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.16% with a 3.50% coupon in 2037.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AAA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Siebert Cisneros Shank is set to price San Antonio, Texas’ $196.02 million of new Series 2017 electric and gas systems revenue refunding bonds on Wednesday.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

Since 2007, the city has sold over $13 billion of debt with the most issuance occurring in 2012 when it offered $2.06 billion of bonds. The city sold the least amount of bonds in that time frame in 2011, when it issued $411.3 million.

BB-081017-MUNa

Action picks up again on Thursday, when Goldman Sachs prices Miami-Dade County, Fla.’s $647.79 million of AMT Series B and taxable Series D aviation revenue and revenue refunding bonds.

The deal is rated A by S&P and Fitch and AA-minus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expected to price the Ohio Water Development Authority’s $250 million of Series 2017B water pollution control loan fund revenue notes on Thursday.

Raymond James & Associates is expected to price the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Texas’ unlimited tax school building bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and Fitch.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $3.05 billion to $8.96 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $4.45 billion of competitive sales and $4.52 billion of negotiated deals.

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