The municipal bond market will be more robust for the week of Feb. 23, with roughly $5.652 billion more issuance than in the past holiday-shortened week.
Volume is estimated to be $8.807 billion, according to Ipreo and The Bond Buyer. This compares with a revised total of $3.155 billion sold in the four-day week through Feb. 20, according to Thomson Reuters.
"The market is setting up for somewhat of a challenging week with the supply," said a New York trader. "We have a decent sized calendar coming up but when you look at the performance of the market in the past two weeks, it's been a challenge for everyone, except for customers who have the upper hand."
There are $7.044 billion of negotiated deals scheduled for the coming week versus a revised $2.015 billion in the past week.
The biggest deal on the calendar is the city of Atlanta water and wastewater revenue's $1.25 billion of refunding bonds, which will be coming to market on Tuesday and be priced by Loop Capital Markets.
In January, Standard & Poor's assigned the AA-minus rating to the refunding. Fitch Ratings assigned A-plus ratings to the bonds, and revised the outlook to positive from stable citing improving financial metrics, cost controls, and relatively stable sales at the Department of Watershed Management, which oversees the wastewater program. Moody's Investors Service has assigned an Aa3 rating and stable outlook to the bonds.
Because of the split ratings, financial director James Beard said the city may not see additional savings on the planned refunding though S&P's upgrade and Fitch's positive outlook "will certainly improve the market perception of the water and wastewater bonds."
As of January, "the deal is estimated to bring about $141.2 million or 10.82% in present value savings to be taken over existing maturities," Beard said.
Proceeds will be used to refund about $231 million of 2001A bonds, $479 million of 2004 bonds, and $596 million of 2009A bonds.
Also on the docket is the $732 million of Pennsylvania Economic Development Authority series 2015 tax-exempt private activity revenue bonds for Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners slated to be priced on Tuesday by JPMorgan Securities. The deal is scheduled to mature serially from 2018 to 2042 and is rated Triple-B by S&P.
The New York City Transitional Finance Authority is coming to market with $700 million of future sales tax subordinate 2 series bonds. The bonds are expected to mature serially from 2015 to 2031 and will be priced by Wells Fargo Securities on Wednesday. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and Triple-A by both S&P and Fitch.
Also scheduled to price next week is New Orleans aviation's $590 of general airport revenue bonds, which will be priced by Citi; The University of Massachusetts Building Authority is coming with $470 million, which is also be priced by Citi and is rated Aa2 by Moody's, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch; The Pennsylvania higher educational Facilities Authority is coming with $359 million of refunding revenue bonds for the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, which will be priced by Morgan Stanley on Thursday and is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P.
Bonds slated for competitive sale are estimated at $1.763 billion, up from $1.128 billion in the previous week.
Two separate sales from the Clark County School District, Nev., totaling $398.405 million are scheduled for competitive sale on Tuesday.
The school district will sell $266.640 million Series A limited tax general obligation refunding bonds and $131.765 million Series B limited tax GO refunding bonds. Both issues are rated A1 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
The Clark County School District last sold bonds competitively on April 8, 2014. Morgan Stanley won the $62.2 million Series 2014B limited tax GOs with a true interest cost of 1.3395%
The state of Nevada will also be in the competitive arena, putting up 3 separate issues for bidding on Wednesday.
The Silver State will sell $196.24 million Series B limited tax GO capital improvement and cultural affairs refunding bonds, $74.4 million Series A limited tax GO university system revenue supported projects bonds, and $20.805 million Series C limited tax GO natural resources refunding bonds.
All three issues carry ratings of Aa2 by Moody's, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.
Nevada was last in the market on June 3, 2014, when it competitively sold $29.475 million of limited tax taxable GO subordinate revenue supported refunding bonds. J.P. Morgan won the bonds with a TIC of 4.0821%.
Shelly Sigo and Chip Barnett contributed to this report.
