Prices of top-rated municipal bonds finished mixed on Thursday, according to bond traders, as yields on some longer-dated maturities rose by one basis point.
The New York City Transitional Finance Authority's $650 million deal was priced for institutions and its $200 million offering sold in the competitive arena.
Primary Market
Loop Capital Markets priced the TFA's $650 million of Fiscal 2015 Subseries E-1 future tax secured subordinate bonds after a holding a two-day order period for retail investors. The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and triple-A by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
The deal was priced to yield from 0.49% with a 4% coupon in 2017 to 3.12% with a 5% coupon in 2035; a 2041 term was priced as 5s to yield 3.23% while a 2042 split maturity was priced as 3 5/8s to yield 3.70% and as 5s to yield 3.24%.
On day two of the retail order period, the bonds were priced to yield from 0.87% with 1%, 3% and 5% coupons in a 2018 triple split maturity to 3.00% with a 5% coupon in 2033. A 2042 split maturity was priced as 3 5/8s to yield 3.70% and as 5s to yield 3.19%. No retail orders were taken in 2031, 2034, 2035 and 2041. On day one of the retail pricing, the bonds were priced for retail to yield from 0.87% with 1%, 3% and 5% coupons in a 2018 triple split maturity to 3.02% with a 5% coupon in 2033. A 2042 split maturity was priced as 3 5/8s to yield 3.70% and as 5s to yield 3.21%. No retail orders were taken in 2030, 2031, 2034, 2035 and 2041. The 2017 maturity was offered as a sealed bid.
Additionally on Thursday, the TFA competitively sold $200 million of Fiscal 2015 Series E Subseries E-2 future tax secured taxable subordinate bonds. The deal was won by Stifel with a true interest cost of 3.0201%. The bonds were priced to yield from 1.88% with a 2.75% coupon in 2020 to 3.37% with a 3.3% coupon in 2029. The taxables are rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P and Fitch.
Also in the competitive arena, the state of West Virginia sold $133.71 million of Series 2015A GO state road refunding bonds. Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a TIC of 1.7287%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 0.30% in 2016 to 2.05% in 2025. The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody's, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.
West Virginia was last in the competitive sector on Jan. 22 when JPMorgan won $65.97 million of 2015 Series A GO refunding bonds with a TIC of 1.7877%.
Back in the negotiated sector, Citi priced Forsyth County, Ga.'s $144.44 million of Series 2015 A & B GO transportation and GO refunding bonds. The $83.97 million Series 2015A GO transportation bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 0.87% in 2018 to 2.80% in 2035. The $60.47 million Series 2015B GO refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.27% in 202 to 2.42% in 20228. The issue is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Secondary Market
Prices of top-quality munis closed mixed. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.94% on Wednesday, while the yield on the 30-year GO rose by one basis point to 2.83% from 2.82%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were higher on Thursday as the yield on the two-year Treasury note declined to 0.48% from 0.50% on Wednesday, while the 10-year yield dropped to 1.89% from 1.90% and the 30-year yield decreased to 2.56% from 2.55%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Thursday at 103.3% versus 102.2% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 110.7% compared to 110.3%.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Outflow
Tax-exempt money market funds had an outflow of $3.74 billion, bringing total net assets to $255.76 billion in the period ended April 13, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $1.84 billion to $259.50 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 396 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for a 102nd straight week.
The total net assets of the 991 weekly reporting taxable money funds fell $26.85 billion to $2.385 trillion in the period ended April 14, after experiencing an outflow of $6.76 billion to $2.412 trillion in the prior week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.02% for the 12th consecutive week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,387 weekly reporting money funds decreased $30.60 billion to $2.641 trillion in the period ended April 14, which followed an outflow of $4.92 billion to $2.671 trillion in the prior period.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.196 billion to $10.230 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $4.407 billion competitive sales and $5.822 billion of negotiated deals.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 45,880 trades on Wednesday on volume of $14.666 billion.
The most active bond, based on the number of trades, was the Chicago Series 2012B taxable GO project and refunding 5.432s of 2042, which traded 414 times at an average price of 87.456 with an average yield of 6.419%. The bonds were initially priced at par to yield 5.432%.
