Top-shelf municipal bonds were stronger at midday, according to traders, who were looking ahead to next week's manageable new issue supply calendar.
Ipreo estimates volume for the week at $4.03 billion, down from a revised total of $6.20 billion in the prior week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. The slate is composed of $3.37 billion of negotiated deals and $661.4 million of competitive sales.
Secondary Market
The 10-year benchmark muni general obligation yield slipped by as much as one basis point from 2.35% on Thursday, while the yield on the 30-year GO decreased as much as one basis point from 3.10%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were mostly lower on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was unchanged from 1.22% on Thursday, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.49% from 2.51%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 3.08% from 3.09%.
On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 93.8% compared to 92.9% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.4%, versus 99.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 45,872 trades on Thursday on volume of $12.05 billion.
Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended Jan. 27 were from Illinois and New York, according to
In the GO bond sector, the Chicago, Ill., 6s of 2038 were traded 126 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Transportation Development Corp.'s 5.25s of 2050 were traded 46 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Chicago 7.045s of 2029 were traded 73 times.
Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
Oregon, New Jersey and California names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Jan. 27, according to Markit.
On the bid side, the Portland, Ore., taxable 6.046s of 2020 were quoted by 102 unique dealers. On the ask side, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority revenue 4s of 2027 were quoted by 294 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the California taxable 7.7s of 2030 were quoted by 25 unique dealers.
Primary Market
It was fairly busy this past week, as traders had a good amount of deals to work with.
JPMorgan Securities priced the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia's $237.29 million of Series 2017A general revenue pledge refunding bonds.
Citigroup priced the Kentucky State Property and Building Commission's $227.82 million of Project 115 revenue bonds.
RBC Capital Markets priced the city of Philadelphia's $206.135 million of GO refunding bonds, series 2017.
Barclays Capital priced the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency's $129.32 million of Series 2017T revenue bonds for Boston College.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced as a remarketing a $119.58 million issue for the Ascension Health Credit Group from two issuers, the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority and the Indiana Health Facilities Financing Authority.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the San Francisco Bay Area Toll Authority, Calif.'s $300 million of Series 2017 F-1 revenue bonds and Series 2017 S-7 subordinate bonds.
RBC Capital Markets priced the Spring Independent School District, Texas' $198.72 million of Series 2017 unlimited tax school building bonds.
BAML priced the North Carolina Turnpike Authority's $137.61 million of Series 2016A toll revenue bonds and Series 2016C capital appreciation bonds for the Monroe Expressway.
Barclays Capital priced the Medical Center Hospital Authority, Ga.'s $104.42 million of taxable revenue anticipation certificates for the Columbus Regional Healthcare System Inc.
Citigroup priced the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Md.'s $247.975 million of Series 2017A-D revenue and revenue refunding bonds for water and wastewater projects.
JPMorgan Securities priced as a remarketing the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority's $125 million of Series T-2 revenue bonds for Yale University.
In the competitive arena, The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., competitively sold $457.25 million of Series 2017 unlimited tax general obligation bonds. Citigroup won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.15%.
Fairfax County, Va., sold $234.02 million of Series 2017A public improvement bonds. Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a TIC of 2.87%.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Calif., competitively sold $455.71 million of Series 2017A Proposition C sales tax revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.52%.
The Sheldon Independent School District, Texas, sold $96.84 million of Series 2017 unlimited general obligation tax school building and refunding bonds. The issue was originally expected to total about $100.71 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the deal with a true interest cost of 3.48%.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $156.4 million to $7.64 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $1.39 billion of competitive sales and $6.25 billion of negotiated deals.
Lipper: Muni Bond Funds Report Inflows
Municipal bond funds attracted inflows again, for the third week in a row as investors continued their return to the market, according to Lipper data released late Thursday. The weekly reporters saw $6.98 million of inflows in the week ended Jan. 25, after inflows of $511.739 million in the previous week.
The four-week moving average moved back into the green at positive $145.238 million, after being negative $265.669 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 had inflows, gaining $239.931 million in the latest week after gaining $421.726 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had outflows of $140.103 million after inflows of $96.682 million in the prior week.
National funds had outflows of $630 million after inflows of $471.471 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $197.757 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $442.286 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw outflows of $147.402 million, after outflows of $33.755 million in the previous week.
