Top-quality municipal bonds ended mixed on Thursday, according to traders, as the last big deal of the week came to market. Activity was subdued ahead of Friday's unemployment report for August and the long holiday weekend.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation on Thursday rose two basis points to 1.44% from 1.42% on Wednesday, while the yield on the 30-year was unchanged from 2.12%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Thursday's read incorporated the September roll calculations for all maturities, but showed the short end of the curve with 5% coupons was impacted the most, with yields in the 2017-2021 maturities rising from three to seven basis points.
U.S. Treasuries were mixed on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 0.78% from 0.79% on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 1.57% from 1.56% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was unchanged from 2.23%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 92.0% on Thursday compared to 90.7% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.1% versus 95.1%, according to MMD.
Primary Market
In the competitive arena, Essex County, N.J., sold $107.08 million of Series 2016 general obligation bonds. Wells Fargo Securities won the deal with a true interest cost of 2.71%.
The $25.83 million of general improvement and county college bonds were priced to yield from 0.66% with a 5% coupon in 2017 to 2.75% at par in 2035. The $80 million of county vocational school bonds were priced to yield from 0.66% with a 5% coupon in 2017 to 3% at par in 2046. The $1.25 million of county college bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 0.66% in 2017 to 1.71% in 2026.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings.
Since 2007, Essex County has sold about $526 million of securities, with the largest issuance occurring in 2010 when it sold about $126 million of bonds.
In the negotiated sector, the Trinity River Authority of Texas sold three separate deals totaling $174.29 million.
Citigroup received the official award on the authority's $87.39 million of Series 2016 Regional Wastewater System revenue refunding bonds. The issue was priced to yield from 0.71% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 1.74% with a 5% coupon in 2027. The deal is rated triple-A by S&P Global Ratings and AA-plus by Fitch.
RBC Capital Markets got the award on the authority's $67.24 million of Series 2016 revenue improvement and refunding bonds for the Ten Mile Creek System. The issue was priced to yield from 0.76% with a 2% coupon in 2018 to 2.68% with a 4% coupon in 2037. The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P.
Wells Fargo Securities received the written award on the authority's $19.56 million of Series 2016 revenue improvement and refunding bonds for the Red Oak Creek System. The issue was priced to yield from 0.66% with a 2% coupon in 2017 to 3.07% with a 3% coupon in 2037. The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 39,691 trades on Wednesday on volume of $14.74 billion.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $6.43 billion, bringing total net assets to $152.90 billion in the week ended Aug. 29, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $11.64 billion to $159.33 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 258 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds rose to 0.14% from 0.10% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 875 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $5.60 billion to $2.556 trillion in the week ended Aug. 30, after an inflow of $27.72 billion to $2.551 trillion the prior before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.11% from the week before.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,133 weekly reporting money funds fell $826.5 billion to $2.709 trillion in the period ended Aug. 30, which followed an inflow of $16.08 billion to $2.710 trillion.
