Top-rated municipal bonds were weaker at mid-session, according to traders, as the market gets set to see about $5.6 billion of new issues hit the screens this week. The calendar is comprised of $4.1 billion of negotiated deals and $1.5 billion of competitive sales.
Secondary Market
The 10-year benchmark muni general obligation yield rose as much as two basis points from 2.30% in Friday, while the yield on the 30-year GO increased as much as two basis points from 3.07%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.21% from 1.19% on Friday, while the 10-year Treasury gained to 2.44% from 2.41%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 3.04% from 3.01%.
On Friday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 95.5% compared to 95.2% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 101.9%, versus 101.6%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 36,818 trades on Friday on volume of $8.78 billion.
Prior Week's Actively Traded Issues
Revenue bonds comprised 59.01% of new issuance in the week ended Feb. 10, up from 58.07% in the previous week, according to
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week were from New York and California.
In the GO bond sector, the New York City 5s of 2028 were traded 57 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2s of 2017 were traded 106 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 7.55s of 2039 were traded 17 times.
Previous Week's Top Underwriters
The top negotiated and competitive underwriters of last week included Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Securities and Stifel, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In the week of Feb. 5 to Feb. 11, Citi underwrote $2.98 billion, Goldman $1.30 billion, BAML $668.6 million, JPMorgan $525.2 million and Stifel $345 million.
Primary Market
Bank of America is set to price the San Francisco Bay Area Toll Authority, Calif.'s $552 million of Series 2017A, B, C & D toll bridge term- and index-rate revenue bonds on Tuesday.
The bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
BAML is also expected to price the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission of Pennsylvania and New Jersey's $438 million of Series 2017 bridge system revenue bonds on Tuesday after a one-day retail order period on Monday.
The deal is rated A1 by Moody's, A by S&P and A-plus by Fitch.
And BAML is expected to price the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $350 million of Series 2017A dedicated tax fund green bonds which are climate bond certified. The issue is slated to be priced on Wednesday after a one-day retail order period on Tuesday.
The deal is rated AA by S&P and Fitch.
Additionally, BAML is set to price the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority's $210 million of Series 2017 Subseries A-1, A-2 (AMT) A-4 and A-5 housing mortgage finance program bonds on Wednesday after holding a one day retail-order period on Tuesday.
The CHFA said that if there is strong demand the deal could be all wrapped up on Tuesday. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Goldman Sachs is expected to price the Dormitory of the State of New York's $190.65 million of Series 2017 revenue bonds for Columbia University.
The DASNY deal is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Piper Jaffray is set to price two deals for the Gresham-Barlow School District No. 10JT, Ore., totaling $291.17 million on Tuesday. The deals consist of $152.43 million of Series 2017B general obligation current interest bonds and $138.74 million of Series 2017A GO DIBs.
The deals are rated A-plus by S&P.
In the competitive arena, the Long Beach Unified School District, Calif., is selling $450 million of general obligation bonds in two separate sales on Tuesday.
The offerings consist of $300 million of election of 2016 Series A unlimited tax GOs and $150 million of election of 2016 Series E unlimited tax GOs.
The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody's and triple-A by Fitch.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nev., is selling $152.77 million of GOs in two separate sales on Tuesday. The offerings consist of $129.33 million of Series 2017A limited tax GO water refunding bonds additionally secured by pledged revenue and $23.44 million of Series 2017B limited tax GO water refunding bonds additionally secured by Southern Nevada Water Authority pledged revenue.
The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $354 million to $9.71 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $3.11 billion of competitive sales and $6.59 billion of negotiated deals.
Muni Bond CUSIP Requests Fell 8% in Jan.
Demand for new municipal bond CUSIP identifiers fell for the third straight month, dropping 8% in January after declining 27% in December, CUSIP Global Services said in a report released on Monday. The report tracks requests by issuers for bond identifiers as an early indicator of new volume.
A total of 826 new municipal bond identifier requests were made last month, down from 900 in December. It was the slowest month for new orders since 819 were requested in February 2013.
"Despite strong debt issuance in terms of dollar amount throughout January, CUSIP request volume is clearly signaling a slowdown in the total number of offerings on tap as we head into 2017," Gerard Faulkner, director of operations for CUSIP Global Services, said in a press release.
On a year-over-year basis, municipal bond request volume was down 9.2% through the end of January.
Regionally, Texas continued to lead the way with a total of 131 new CUSIP ID requests in January, followed by California 94, and Pennsylvania with 64.
"At least for the immediate future, all signs appear to be pointing to a slowdown in corporate and municipal debt issuance," Richard Peterson, senior director, S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in the release. "While that sentiment is reflected in current investor behavior, it will be instructive to watch the CUSIP issuance dataset for any signs of a potential change in the coming weeks and months."
