Top-rated municipal bonds were weaker at mid-session, according to traders, as several big competitive deals sold in the primary market.
Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose one to three basis points from 1.88% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield increased two to four basis points from 2.74%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasuries were weaker on Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.35% from 1.31% on Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.25% from 2.22% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.83% from 2.80%.
On Monday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.8%, compared with 86.0% on Friday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 97.8% versus 98.0%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 32,191 trades on Monday on volume of $5.38 billion.
Primary market
Mecklenburg County, N.C., sold $225 million of Series 2017A general obligation public improvement bonds.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.74%. The issue was priced to yield from 0.92% with a 5% coupon in 2020 to approximately 3.14% with a 3% coupon in 2037.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
Since 2007 the county has sold $3.05 billion of securities, with the most issuance occurring in 2009 when it sold $909 million. It did not come to market in 2012 or 2014 and Tuesday’s sale marks the first one of this year.
The University of Alabama Board of Trustees competitively sold $192.41 million of general revenue bonds in three separate offerings.
Wells Fargo Securities won the $152.47 million of Series 2017B tax-exempts with a TIC of 3.28%. The issue was priced to yield from 1.72% with a 5% coupon in 2025 to approximately 3.54% with a 3.50% coupon in 2045; a 2047 term bond was priced as 3 1/2s to yield about 3.55%.
Janney Montgomery won the $14.93 million of Series 2017A tax-exempts with a TIC of 1.39% and also won the $25.01 million of Series 2017C taxables with a TIC of 2.01%.
All three deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
Hennepin County, Minn., competitively sold $100 million of Series 2017C general obligation bonds.
JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a TIC of 2.94%. Pricing information was not immediately available.
The deal is rated AAA by S&P.
In the negotiated sector, Citigroup priced the Kentucky State Property and Building Commission’s $168.82 million of Project No. 117 revenue and revenue refunding bonds.
The $88.89 million of Series B revenue bonds were priced to yield from 0.85% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.75% at par in 2037.
The $79.93 million of Series D revenue refunding bonds were priced to yield from 0.85% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.09% with a 5% coupon in 2030.
The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and A-plus by Fitch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expected to price for retail investors the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii’s $411 million of general obligation bonds.
The issue is made up of tax-exempts, tax-exempt refundings, taxable refundings and taxable green bonds.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by Fitch.
Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $256.2 million to $9.77 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $4.79 billion of competitive sales and $4.98 billion of negotiated deals.
