Municipal bonds were mixed at mid-session as traders awaited the return of the Windy City to the new issue sector.
Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell as much as one basis point from 1.83% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield was unchanged from 2.66%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.31% from 1.29% on Tuesday as the 10-year Treasury yield inched up to 2.16% from 2.15% while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.82% from 2.81%.
On Tuesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.5%, compared with 85.2% on Monday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 94.8% versus 94.7%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 44,024 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.13 billion.
Primary Market
The city of Chicago is back in the market on Wednesday as Cabrera Capital Markets gets set to price the city’s $199.56 million of Series 2017 second lien water revenue refunding bonds.
The deal is rated A by S&P Global Ratings and AA-minus by Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Since 2007, the city of Chicago has issued roughly $28.44 billion of securities with the most issuance occurring in 2015 when it sold $4.24 billion.
The Windy City has issued more than $2 billion in a year eight times over the past decade and during the same time, has only issued less than $1 billion once – back in 2009 when it issued just $778 million.
Also on Wednesday, Citigroup priced the Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District, Mich.’s $126.8 million of Series 2017A limited tax general obligation drain and refunding bonds.
The issue was priced to yield from 0.83% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.17% with a 4% coupon in 2037; a 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.90%.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by S&P.
In the competitive arena on Wednesday, the state of Maine sold $104.49 million of bonds in two separate issues.
JPMorgan Securities won the $89.36 million of Series 2017B general obligation bonds with a true interest cost of 1.55%.
Morgan Stanley won the $15.13 million of Series 2017A taxable GOs with a TIC of 1.24%.
Both deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
CPS awards $396.5M GANs to JPMorgan
The Chicago Public Schools $396.52 million of Series 2017 grant anticipation notes have been awarded to JPMorgan Securities, CPS said on Wednesday.
CPS said award was based on an evaluation of the responses to its request for bids on the direct purchase of the GANs.
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $3.71 billion to $8.53 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $3.80 billion of competitive sales and $4.73 billion of negotiated deals.
