Stock, Treasury volatility drives muni trade

Bond yields at a glance

MBIS benchmark (~AA)

MBIS AAA

MMD AAA

U.S. Treasuries

10 year

2.613

2.527

2.37

2.81

30 year

3.053

2.974

2.92

3.09

MBIS indices are updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

As equity and Treasury markets continued to show volatility, muni traders helped buyers looking for a safe haven.

Early reports of traders selling were circulating among the desks as bid-wanted and offerings lists were making the rounds.

MBIS reported a top bid-wanted list included New York State Dormitory Authority’s Series 2016D state personal income 5% bonds of 2026. And a top offering list reported by MBIS included the ABAG Finance Authority for Nonprofit Corporations of California’s Series 2012A 5% hospital bonds of 2028.

Primary market
Morgan Stanley priced the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s $231 million of Series 2018A water system revenue bonds for retail investors on Wednesday.

The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.83% in 2023 to 2.98% in 2039. Yields on the serial scale ranged from seven basis points below the comparable MMD triple-A security to 15 basis above the MMD read.

A 2043 term bond was priced as 5s to yield 3.02%, about 15 basis points above the MMD scale, and a 2048 term was priced as 5s about 15 basis points above the comparable MMD maturity.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service, AA-plus by S&P Global Ratings and AA by Fitch Ratings.

Since 2008, LADWP has sold about $13 billion of debt, with the most issuance occurring in 2010 when it offered $2.06 billion of bonds. It sold the least amount of bonds in that time frame in 2008, when it sold $550 million of debt.

BB-020818-MUN

Goldman Sachs priced Harris County, Texas’ $567.2 million of Series 2018A senior lien toll road revenue refunding bonds on Wednesday.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.45% with a 5% coupon in 2019 to 3.41% with a 4% coupon in 2038. A 2043 term bond was priced as 5s to yield 3.17% while a 2048 term was priced as 4s to yield 3.62%.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by Fitch.

In the competitive arena, the University System of Maryland sold $115 million of Series 2018A auxiliary facility and tuition revenue bonds.

UBS Financial won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.0557%. Pricing information was not immediately available.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

The city and county of Denver, Colo., sold $97 million of Series 2018 wastewater enterprise revenue bonds.

Citigroup won the bonds with a TIC of 3.3418%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

Previous session's activity
On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.6% compared with 88.0% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 96.0% versus 98.1%, according to MMD.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 43,821 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.27 billion. California, Texas and New York were the three states with the most trades on Tuesday, with the Golden State taking 12.764% of the market, the Empire State taking 12.026% and the Lone Star State taking 9.893%.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $6.03B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $42.7 million to $6.03 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $1.64 billion of competitive sales and $4.39 billion of negotiated deals.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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