Top-rated municipal bonds were mixed at midday as the market was seeing the last of the week’s bigger sales hit the screens.
Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.90% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield rose as much as one basis point from 2.74%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.29% from 1.27% on Wednesday as the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.22% from 2.20% while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.87% from 2.86%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 92.5%, compared with 87.2% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.8%, versus 96.0%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 39,763 trades on Wednesday on volume of $12.16 billion.
Primary market
Morgan Stanley priced Connecticut’s $355.22 million of state revolving fund general revenue bonds for institutions after holding a one-day retail order period.
The $250 million of Series 2017A SRF green bonds were priced for institutions to yield from 1% with a 3% coupon in 2020 to 2.79% with a 5% coupon in 2037. The 2018 and 2019 maturities were offered as sealed bids.
The $105.22 million of Series 2017B refunding bonds were priced for institutions as 5s to yield from 1.01% in 2020 to 2.05% in 2027.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
Since 2007, the Constitution State has sold roughly $30.69 billion of securities, with the most issuance occurring in 2008 when it sold $4.21 billion. The state has sold more than $1 billion every year for the past decade and has sold more than $3 billion in a year five times. The lowest issuance year came in 2007, when it sold $1.38 billion.
Barclays Capital received the written award on the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority’s $224.2 million of Series 2017B revenue bonds for Yale University.
The $112.1 million of Series B-1 bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.17% in 2029 with a mandatory put in 2020.
The $112.1 million of Series B-3 bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.17% in 2037 with a mandatory put in 2020.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch received the official award on the Build NYC Resource Corp.’s $90.58 million of Series 2017 revenue bonds for Manhattan College.
The issue was priced to yield from 0.90% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.56% with a 3.5% coupon in 2037. A spilt 2042 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.56% and as 3 5/8s to yield 3.66% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.25%.
The deal is rated A-minus by S&P and Fitch.
In the competitive arena, Loudoun County, Va., sold $108.13 million of Series 2017A general obligation public improvement bonds.
JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.45%. Pricing information was not immediately available.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.
Also on Thursday, Nassau County, N.Y., competitively sold $90.53 million of Series 2017B general improvement bonds. Citigroup won the bonds with a TIC of 3.19%. The issue was priced to yield from 0.85% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.09% with a 5% coupon in 2037. The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and A by Fitch.
And JPMorgan won Nassau County’s $45 million of Series 2017A bond anticipation notes with a bid of 1.56% and a $5,400 premium, an effective rate of 1.552015%. The BANs are rated SP1-plus by S&P and A1-plus by Fitch.
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.45 billion to $11.09 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $5.39 billion of competitive sales and $5.70 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $347.4 million, lowering total net assets to $129.33 billion in the week ended May 29, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an inflow of $169.2 million to $129.68 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 232 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds held frim at 0.32% from the previous week.
The total net assets of the 855 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $8.66 billion to $2.498 trillion in the week ended May 30, after an inflow of $5.56 billion to $2.489 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.46% from 0.45% last week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,087 weekly reporting money funds increased $8.31 billion to $2.627 trillion in the week ended May 30, after inflows of $5.73 billion to $2.619 trillion in the prior week.
