Top shelf municipal bonds were mixed at mid-session, traders said, after the Labor Department reported non-farm payrolls rose 215,000 last month.
The jobs report gives the Federal Reserve more data to support raising interest rates at least one time this year. Short-term munis were steady to stronger on the news while longer term maturities weakened.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady at 1.70% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni yield was as much as one basis point stronger from 2.69%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Yields were substantially lower on the week. On Thursday, March 24, the yield on the 10-year muni stood at 1.82% while the 30-year yield was at 2.76%.
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 0.76% from 0.73% on Thursday, while the 10-year Treasury yield inched up to 1.80% from 1.79% and the 30-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 2.62% from 2.63%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Thursday at 95.3% compared with 95.7% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 102.8% versus 102.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 43,818 trades on Thursday on volume of $17.05 billion.
The Week’s Primary Market
Volume for next week is estimated by Ipreo at $7.66 billion, consisting of $6.58 billion of negotiated deals and $1.08 billion of competitive sales.
This week, the market saw good primary activity, with big deals coming in both the negotiated and competitive sectors.
Barclays Capital Markets priced the Trustees of the California State University's $1.39 billion of Series 2016 A & B revenue bonds. The issue is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by Standard & Poor's.
JPMorgan Securities priced the Houston Independent School District's $743.13 million of Series 2016A limited tax schoolhouse and refunding bonds. The deal is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program and is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the state of Hawaii’s $307.27 million of GO refunding bonds for institutions after a one-day retail order period. The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch Ratings.
Morgan Stanley priced the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's $204.65 million of Series 2016A subordinated revenue bonds. The deal is rated A3 by Moody's and A-minus by Fitch.
BAML priced the Pennsylvania Higher Educational Facilities Authority’s $169.64 million of Series 2016A refunding revenue bonds for the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.
Morgan Stanley priced Tampa, Fla.'s $200 million of Series 2016A health system revenue bonds for Baycare Health System. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by Fitch Ratings.
Citigroup priced Denton County, Texas' $121.08 million of Series 2016 permanent improvement refunding bonds. The bonds are rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Citigroup priced Westchester County, N.Y.’s $110.03 million of Series 2016A GO refunding bonds. The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and triple-A by S&P and Fitch.
In the competitive arena, Anne Arundel County, Md., sold two issues totaling $285.13 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $145.35 million of GO refunding Series 2016 consolidated general improvements and consolidated water and sewer bonds with a true interest cost of 1.80%. BAML also won the $139.78 million of Series 2016 GO consolidated general improvements and consolidated water and sewer bonds with a TIC of 3.20%. Both issues are rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by Standard & Poor's.
The state of Michigan sold $82.24 million of Series 2016A tax-exempt general obligation environmental program bonds. Wells Fargo won the bonds with a TIC of 1.54%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority competitively sold $154.67 million of Series 2016A senior lien refunding revenue bonds. BAML won the bonds with a TIC of 3.26%. The issue is rated A2 by Moody's and A by S&P and Fitch.
Palm Beach County, Fla., competitively sold $121.04 million of Series 2016 revenue refunding bonds. Raymond James won the bonds with a TIC of 3.07%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
The Virginia Public School Authority competitively sold $171.31 million of Series 2016 special obligation school financing and refunding bonds. Wells Fargo Securities won the bonds with a TIC of 2.45%. The bonds are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
And the Long Beach Unified School District, Calif., sold $139.37 million of Series 2016 general obligation refunding bonds. Citi won the deal with a TIC of 2.27%. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar rose $4.16 billion to $10.23 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $2.24 billion of competitive sales and $7.99 billion of negotiated deals.
Muni Bond Funds See Inflows for 26th Straight Week
For the 26th week in a row, municipal bond funds reported inflows, according to Lipper data released Thursday.
Weekly reporting funds saw $783.896 million of inflows in the week ended March 30, after inflows of $901.500 million in the previous week, Lipper said. The four-week moving average remained positive at $745.914 million after being in the green at $603.004 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 also experienced inflows, gaining $519.825 million in the latest week after inflows of $643.831 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $205.746 million after inflows of $258.537 million in the prior week.
National funds had inflows of $652.906 million on top of inflows of $772.198 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $268.113 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $273.005 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $86.080 million, after inflows of $85.863 million in the previous week.
The Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues California, New York and Illinois issues were among some of the most actively quoted names in the week ended April 1, according to data released from Markit.
On the bid side, the California taxable 7.6s of 2040 were quoted by 15 unique dealers. On the ask side, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority revenue 4s of 2040 were quoted by 16 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Illinois taxable 7.51s of 2033 were quoted by 13 dealers.
The Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended April 1 were in Kansas, California and Tennessee, according to
In the GO bond sector, the Johnson and Miami County USD 230, Kan., 4s of 2023 traded 32 times. In the revenue bond sector, the California 4s of 2045 traded 116 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Nashville and Davidson Health and Educational Facilities Board 4.053s of 2026 traded 26 times, Markit said.
