Munis mixed as market awaits N.J. EDA sale

Municipal bonds were mixed at midday as the primary was set to heat up the despite cold weather and snow in the Northeast.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was stronger in midday trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield dropped to 2.254% on Thursday from the final read of 2.263% on Wednesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield decreased to 2.731% from 2.735%.

The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds are weaker at mid-session. The yield on the 10-year [2028] benchmark muni general obligation rose as much as two basis points from 1.98% on Wednesday, while the 30-year [2038] GO yield gained one to three basis points from 2.54% according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries are also weaker on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury gained to 1.96% from 1.94% on Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.47% from 2.45% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.80% from 2.79%.

On Wednesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 81.0% compared with 80.3% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 91.2% versus 90.7%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,720 trades on Wednesday on volume of $16.25 billion.

Primary market
RBC Capital Markets is expected to price the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s $381.195 million of state lease revenue bonds for state government buildings on Thursday.

The offering is comprised of $197.275 million bonds for the Health Department and Taxation Division office project; $19.225 million taxable bonds for the Health Department office project; and $164.695 million of bonds for the Juvenile Justice Commission Facilities project.

Proceeds of the sale will be used to fund construction of Health Department and Taxation Division office buildings in Trenton and to finance building juvenile justice commission facilities in Ewing and Winslow townships.

Two lawsuits had been filed attempting to block the sale, but on Wednesday a New Jersey judge declined those requests, according to the Daily Record.

The deal is rated Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service, BBB-plus by S&P Global Ratings and A-minus by Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Since 2008, the N.J. EDA has sold about $21.47 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2008 when it issued $3.22 billion. It sold the least amount of bonds in 2009 when it issued $850.3 million.

BB-010518-MUNa

RBC is also expected to price the Socorro Independent School District, Texas’ $173.54 million of Series 2018 unlimited tax school building bonds on Thursday.

The deal, which is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is rated triple-A by Moody’s and Fitch.

Stifel is set to price the Anaheim Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, Calif.’s $110 million of Series 2018A tax allocation refunding bonds on Thursday.

The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $5.19B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $855.6 million to $5.19 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $2.40 billion of competitive sales and $2.79 billion of negotiated deals.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $130.8 million, bringing total net assets to $131.06 billion in the week ended Jan. 1, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

This followed an outflow of $261 million to $130.93 billion in the previous week.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the 199 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds passed the 1.0% mark, finishing the week at 1.03%, up from 0.79% the previous week.

The total net assets of the 826 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $4.66 billion to $2.675 trillion in the week ended Jan. 3, after an inflow of $11.07 billion to $2.670 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds rose to 0.92% from 0.89% from the prior week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,025 weekly reporting money funds increased $4.79 billion to $2.806 trillion in the week ended Jan. 3, after inflows of $10.81 billion to $2.801 trillion in the prior week.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market New Jersey Economic Development Authority
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