Top quality municipal bonds finished mostly steady on Thursday, traders said, with yields on 10-year and 30-year maturities unchanged.
In the primary market, Ramirez & Co. priced the New York City Transitional Finance Authority's $750 million bond deal for retail investors.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 1.88% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni yield was flat from 2.86%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale. Yields on short maturities were as much as two basis points higher.
Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 0.92% from 0.90% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 1.93% from 1.89% and the 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 2.69% from 2.67%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Thursday at 97.7% compared to 99.4% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 106.1% versus 106.5%, according to MMD.
Primary Market
Ramirez priced for retail the NYC TFA's Building Aid Revenue Bonds, Fiscal 2016 Series S-1. After a two-day retail order period, the deal will be priced for institutions on Monday.
The issue was priced for retail to yield from 0.96% with a 3% coupon in 2019 to 3.21% with a 4% coupon in 2036; a 2045 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.45%. No orders were taken in the 2028-2030, 2032, 2034-2035, 2040 or 2044 maturities. The 2017 and 2018 maturities were offered as sealed bids.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nev., came to market with two sales totaling $605.86 million.
Citigroup priced the district's $497.64 million of Series 2016A limited tax general obligation improvement and refunding bonds, additionally secured by SNWA pledge revenue. The issue was priced to yield from 0.60% with a 3% coupon in 2017 to 3.07% with a 5% coupon in 2038; a 2041 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.18% and a 2046 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.24%.
Morgan Stanley priced the district's $108.22 million of Series 2016B limited tax GO water refunding bonds, additionally secured by pledged revenues. The issue was priced to yield from 0.65% with a 5% coupon in 2017 to 3% with a 5% coupon in 2036.
Both deals are rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Since 2006, the Las Vegas Valley Water District has issued bonds an average of two times a year, selling about $3.7 billion, with the largest issuances in 2009 and 2011 when it offered $520 million and $534 million, respectively. The LVVWD did not issue any bonds in 2007 or 2013.
Morgan Stanley priced the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority's $198.68 million of Series 2016A and B refunding revenue bonds for the Entergy Louisiana Project. The Series A bonds were priced to yield approximately 3.47% with a 3.375% coupon in 2028, while the Series B bonds were priced to yield 3.60% with a 3.50% coupon in 2030. The bonds were expected to be rated by A2 by Moody's and A-minus by S&P.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $831.8 million, bringing total net assets to $239.81 billion in the week ended March 7, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $4.49 billion to $238.97 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 354 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for the 149th straight week.
The total net assets of the 940 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $24.99 billion to $2.590 trillion in the week ended March 8, after an inflow of $9.30 billion to $2.565 trillion in the prior week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.10% for the fifth week in a row.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,294 weekly reporting money funds increased $25.82 billion to $2.830 trillion in the period ended March 8, which followed an inflow of $4.81 billion to $2.804 trillion.
