On a quiet Monday where there is only one deal pricing for retail investors, municipals were mixed although some maturities on the long end were as much as one basis point higher, according to traders.
Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation held steady from 1.93% on Friday, while the 30-year GO yield was as much as one basis point higher from 2.72%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasuries were stronger on Monday around midday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dipped to 1.35% from 1.36%, the 10-year Treasury yield dipped to 2.25% from 2.27% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.83% from 2.85%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.1% on Friday, compared with 86.1% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.6% versus 96.5%, according to MMD.
Primary market
Ipreo estimates volume will crawl up to $7.32 billion, from the revised total of $7.02 billion sold in the past week, according to updated figures from Thomson Reuters. The calendar for the week ahead is composed of $4.77 billion of negotiated deals and $2.55 billion of competitive sales.
JPMorgan kicked off the action, pricing the state of Ohio Higher Education Facility Commission’s $824.23 million of hospital refunding revenue bonds for the Cleveland Clinic Health System Obligated Group State for retail investors, ahead of institutional pricing on Tuesday.
The bonds were priced for retail to yield from 0.96% with a 3% coupon in 2019 to 3.42% with a 5% coupon in 2039. A term bond in 2043 was priced to yield 3.50% with a 4% coupon.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings. S&P raised the system’s rating to AA from AA-minus recently, as a result of expansion plans the system has in its U.S. and international operations.
The pace will pick up on Tuesday in what should be the busiest day of the week.
The New York City Transitional Finance Authority is scheduled to competitively sell $1.35 billion of Fiscal 2018 Series A future tax secured tax-exempt and taxable subordinate bonds on Tuesday. The separate bond sales consist of: $180.915 million of Subseries A-1 tax-exempts; $407.205 million of Subseries A-2 tax-exempts; $411.88 million of Subseries A-3 tax-exempts; $124.055 million of Subseries A-4 taxables; and $225.945 million of Subseries A-5 taxables. The TFA also intends to reoffer about $162 million of Fiscal 2018 Series 1 fixed-rate tax-exempts via competitive bid to convert existing floating-rate bonds into fixed-rates.
Morgan Stanley is scheduled to price Philadelphia’s $278.235 million of gas works revenue bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s, A by S&P and BB-plus by Fitch.
Previous week's top underwriters
The top negotiated and competitive municipal bond underwriters of last week included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In the week of July 30 to Aug. 4, BAML underwrote $2.688 billion, Wells Fargo $1.260 million, JPM $808.9 million, Morgan Stanley $580.3 million, and Citi $338.7 million.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 32,358 trades on Friday on volume of $8.119 billion.
Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 55.91% of new issuance in the week ended Aug. 4, up from 54.88% in the previous week, according to
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Aug. 4 were from Massachusetts, California and Illinois issuers.
In the GO bond sector, the Massachusetts 2s of 2018 were traded 49 times. In the revenue bond sector, the Bay Area Toll Authority of Calif. 3.25s of 2036 were traded 104 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Illinois 5.1s of 2033 were traded 24 times.
Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $1.028 billion to $11.37 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $6.01 billion of competitive sales and $5.36 billion of negotiated deals.
