Top-shelf municipal bonds were steady at mid-session, traders said, ahead of the upcoming holiday-shortened trading week. Markets will be closed on Monday for the Columbus Day holiday.
Ipreo estimates volume for next week at $8.41 billion, down from a revised $9.66 billion this week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. The slate is composed of $7.58 billion of negotiated deals and $834.8 million of competitive sales.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.64% on Thursday, while the yield on the 30-year was steady from 2.45%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Friday after the release of a weaker-than-expected employment report for September.
Non-farm payrolls rose 156,000 last month; economists polled by IFR Markets had expected a gain of 170,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in September from 4.9% in August. Economists surveyed by IFR had expected the rate to remain at 4.9% in September.
The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 0.84% from 0.85% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.75% from 1.74% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.48% from 2.46%.
On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 94.3% compared to 93.3% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 99.7% versus 99.8%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,017 trades on Thursday on volume of $17.46 billion.
Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended Oct. 7 were from Massachusetts, New York and California, according to
In the GO bond sector, the Massachusetts 2s of 2017 were traded 33 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2s of 2017 were traded 33 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 7.6s of 2040 were traded 24 times.
Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
Illinois, Colorado and New York and New Jersey issues were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Oct. 7, according to Markit.
On the bid side, the Illinois taxable 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 39 unique dealers. On the ask side, the Colorado Health Facilities Authority revenue 3.125s of 2042 were quoted by 349 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey taxable 4.458s of 2062 were quoted by 20 unique dealers.
Week's Primary Market
Municipal bond traders were putting their sales and purchases into the record books on Friday after seeing one of the heftiest new issue weeks in a while.
Goldman Sachs priced the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency's $1.55 billion of Series 2016A revenue bonds for Harvard University. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings.
Citigroup priced the Dormitory of the State of New York's $1.12 billion of Series 2016D personal income tax revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P.
JPMorgan Securities priced the City and County of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Calif.'s $899.06 million of Series 2016AB water revenue refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
Morgan Stanley priced the Tarrant County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corp., Texas' $631.11 million of Series 2016A revenue bonds for the Texas Health Resources System. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Barclays Capital priced the Massachusetts School Building Authority's $604.3 million of Series 2016B senior dedicated sales tax bonds and Series 2016C senior dedicated sales tax refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch Ratings.
Morgan Stanley priced the Texas Transportation Commission's $598.84 million of Series 2016A highway fund first tier revenue bonds. Additionally, Jefferies priced the TTC's $90 million of Series 2016B state highway fund first tier revenue refunding put bonds. Both deals are rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Loop Capital Markets priced the California State Public Works Board's $527.54 million of Series 2016 C&D various projects lease revenue refunding bonds for institutions. The bonds are rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Citi priced the San Antonio Water System Texas' $300.35 million of junior lien revenue and refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by S&P and Fitch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii's $222.05 million of general obligation bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by Fitch.
BAML priced the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency's $203.11 million of Series 2016 BB-1, BB-2 and BB-3 revenue bonds for Boston University. The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P.
JPMorgan Securities priced the Arizona Board of Regents $181.03 million of Series 2016A system revenue and revenue refunding bonds and Series 2016B system revenue green bonds for the University of Arizona. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
BAML also priced the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s $200.13 million of tax-exempt refunding pilot revenue bonds for the Carousel Center Project. The deal is rated Baa1 by Moody's and A-minus by Fitch.
Raymond James priced the Garland Independent School District, Texas' $150.25 million of unlimited tax school building bonds. The deal is backed by the Permanent School Fund Guarantee Program and is rated triple-A by Moody's and Fitch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced Charlotte, N.C.'s $116.22 million of Series 2016A general obligation refunding bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Citigroup priced the West Basin Municipal Water District, Calif.'s $112.99 million of Series 2016A refunding revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
In the competitive arena, Wisconsin sold about $325 million of Series 2016D general obligation bonds, which were won by BAML with a true interest cost of 2.99%. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by both S&P and Fitch.
Also in the Midwest, Minneapolis, Minn., competitively sold $120 million of Series 2016 GO improvement and various purpose bonds, which were won by Morgan Stanley with a TIC of 1.46%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P and Fitch.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $518.3 million to $15.99 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $5.33 billion of competitive sales and $10.65 billion of negotiated deals.
Lipper Reports Inflows
Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the 53rd week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday.
The weekly reporters saw $324.600 million of inflows in the week ended Oct. 5, after inflows of $664.257 million in the previous week, Lipper said.
The four-week moving average remained positive at $497.993 million after being in the green at $663.289 million in the previous week. A moving average is an analytical tool used to smooth out price changes by filtering out fluctuations.
Long-term muni bond funds experienced inflows, gaining $134.483 million in the latest week after inflows of $479.393 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $110.063 million after inflows of $96.318 million in the prior week.
National funds had inflows of $263.911 million on top of inflows of $563.967 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported outflows of $33.243 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $204.956 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $92.295 million, after inflows of $53.849 million in the previous week.
