Munis end weaker as deals sell

Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Tuesday, according to traders, as several big competitive deals sold in the primary market, led by a high-quality offering from Mecklenburg County, N.C.

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose three basis points to 1.91% from 1.88% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield increased four basis points to 2.78% from 2.74%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Treasuries were weaker on Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.35% from 1.31% on Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.26% from 2.22% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.84% from 2.80%.

The 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.5% on Tuesday, compared with 84.8% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 98.0% versus 97.8%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 32,191 trades on Monday on volume of $5.38 billion.

Primary market
Mecklenburg County, N.C., sold $225 million of Series 2017A general obligation public improvement bonds.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.74%. The issue was priced to yield from 0.92% with a 5% coupon in 2020 to approximately 3.14% with a 3% coupon in 2037.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Since 2007 the county has sold $3.05 billion of securities, with the most issuance occurring in 2009 when it sold $909 million. It did not come to market in 2012 or 2014. Tuesday’s sale marks the first this year.

BB-081617-MUN

The University of Alabama Board of Trustees competitively sold $192.41 million of general revenue bonds in three separate offerings.

Wells Fargo Securities won the $152.47 million of Series 2017B tax-exempts with a TIC of 3.28%. The issue was priced to yield from 1.72% with a 5% coupon in 2025 to approximately 3.54% with a 3.50% coupon in 2045; a 2047 term bond was priced as 3 1/2s to yield about 3.55%.

Janney Montgomery won the $14.93 million of Series 2017A tax-exempts with a TIC of 1.39% and also won the $25.01 million of Series 2017C taxables with a TIC of 2.01%.

All three deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

Hennepin County, Minn., competitively sold $100 million of Series 2017C general obligation bonds.

JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a TIC of 2.94%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 0.80% in 2018 to 2.61% in 2037.

The deal is rated AAA by S&P and Fitch.

In the negotiated sector, Citigroup priced the Kentucky State Property and Building Commission’s $168.82 million of Project No. 117 tax-exempt revenue and revenue refunding bonds and $64.64 million of Series A taxable revenue bonds and taxable Series C revenue refunding bonds.

The $88.89 million of Series B tax-exempt revenue bonds were priced to yield from 0.85% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.75% at par in 2037.

The $79.93 million of Series D tax-exempt revenue refunding bonds were priced to yield from 0.85% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.09% with a 5% coupon in 2030.

The $15.09 million of Series A taxable revenue bonds were priced at par to yield from 1.851% in 2018 to 4.007% in 2032.

The $49.55 million of Series C taxable revenue refunding bonds were priced at par to yield from 1.851% in 2018 to 3.757% in 2029.

The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and A-plus by Fitch.

Wells Fargo priced the Lake Oswego School District No. 7J, Ore.’s $161 million of Series 2017 GOs.

The issue was priced to yield from 0.75% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.08% with a 4% coupon in 2037. A 2039 term bond was priced as 4s to yield 3.14% and a 2043 term was priced as 4s to yield 3.25%.

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

Goldman Sachs priced the Utah State Board of Regents’ $155.29 million of Series 2017A general revenue and refunding bonds for the University of Utah.

The issue was priced to yield from 0.77% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 2.80% with a 5% coupon in 2039.

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

On Wednesday, the state of Maryland is competitively selling about $1.3 billion of general obligation bonds in two separate offerings.

The deals consist of $792.83 million of state and local facilities loan of 2017 Series B tax-exempt refunding GOs and $550 million of state and local facilities loan of 2017 Series A tax-exempt GOs.

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

In the negotiated sector on Wednesday, Citigroup is set to price the state of Louisiana’s $368 million of fuels tax revenue refunding bonds consisting of Series 2017B and Series 2017C second liens.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expected to price the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii’s $411 million of general obligation bonds.

The issue is made up of tax-exempts, tax-exempt refundings, taxable refundings and taxable green bonds.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by Fitch.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by Fitch. Piper Jaffray is expected to price the state of Mississippi’s $101 million of taxable GO on Wednesday.

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

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