Munis steady ahead of next week’s $130M holiday-lite calendar

Top-shelf municipal bonds were unchanged at mid-session as traders prepared for next week’s almost non-existent new issue calendar.

Ipreo estimates volume for the upcoming week at $130.4 million, down from a revised total of $6.02 billion sold this week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. Next week’s slate is composed of $46.5 million of negotiated deals and $83.9 million of competitive sales.

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Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was flat from 1.99% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield was steady from 2.79%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Treasuries were mixed on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was flat from 1.37% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.28% from 2.27% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.83% from 2.82%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 87.7%, compared with 85.6% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 99.0% versus 98.5%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 44,490 trades on Thursday on volume of $14.75 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended June 30 were from New Jersey, New York and Missouri issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the Jersey City, N.J., 3.375s of 2040 were traded 22 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority 4s of 2044 were traded 66 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority 3.652s of 2057 were traded 90 times.

Week's actively quoted issues
Nevada, Maryland and Illinois names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended June 30, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the North Las Vegas, Nev., taxable 6.572s of 2040 were quoted by 126 unique dealers. On the ask side, the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority revenue 4s of 2047 were quoted by 291 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Illinois taxable 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 48 unique dealers.

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Week’s primary market
The week saw a decent amount of supply hit the market.

Morgan Stanley priced the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York’s $1.74 billion of Series 2017A general purpose state personal income tax revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AAA by S&P Global Ratings.

Citigroup priced the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority, Pa.’s $214.23 million of Series 2017 tax revenue bonds for the City Center refunding project. The deal is rated Ba1 by Moody’s.

JPMorgan Securities priced the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s $200.37 million of gross revenue transit refunding bonds. The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P and Fitch Ratings.

Goldman Sachs priced the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s $375 million of Series 2017C power system revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.

Raymond James & Associates priced the Comal Independent School District, Texas’ $227.16 million of Series 2017 unlimited tax school building bonds. The deal, backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is rated triple-A by Moody’s and Fitch.

Wells Fargo Securities priced the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority’s $375 million of taxable educational facilities revenue bonds for Washington University. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

In the competitive arena, the state of Utah sold $142.07 million of Series 2017 general obligation bonds. JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 1.79%. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

Richmond, Va., sold $226.73 million of GOs in two separate offerings. Wells Fargo Securities won the $182.8 million of Series 2017B GO public improvement and refunding bonds with a TIC of 2.46%. Raymond James won the $43.93 million of Series 2017C taxable public improvement refunding bonds with a TIC of 2.82%. The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority sold $164 million of Fiscal 2018 Series AA water and sewer system second general resolution revenue bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a TIC of 3.58%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

The city of Los Angeles, Calif., sold $169.41 million of general obligation bonds in two separate offerings. Citigroup won the $86.59 million of Series 2017A taxable GOs with a TIC of 3.07% while Wells Fargo Securities won the $82.82 million of Series 2017B tax-exempt refunding GOs with a TIC of 1.41%. The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-minis by Fitch Ratings.

The Virginia Transportation Board sold $260.67 million of Series 2017 transportation capital projects revenue bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the deal with a TIC of 3.16%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

One deal that didn’t come to market was the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $744.95 million of climate bond certified Series 2017B transportation revenue green bonds, which was was postponed on Thursday. The deal had been priced for retail investors on Wednesday.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.02 billion to $2.46 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $1.31 billion of competitive sales and $1.15 billion of negotiated deals.

Lipper: Muni bond funds see inflows
Investors in municipal bond funds put cash back into the funds in the latest week, according to Lipper data.

The weekly reporters saw $496.355 million of inflows in the week ended June 28, after outflows of $890.590 million in the previous week.

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The four-week moving average was positive at $246.434 million, after being in the green at $109.636 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 had inflows of $347.179 million in the latest week after outflows of $1.078 billion in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $48.313 million after inflows of $92.321 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $528.345 million after outflows of $904.896 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $224.042 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $231.470 million the previous week.

Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $83.810 million, after inflows of $56.529 million in the previous week.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds New York State Dormitory Authority Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority
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