Will yields continue rising ahead of big Chicago sale?

Municipal bond traders are returning to work on Monday and watching yields ahead of this week’s $7.17 billion new issue calendar.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was mixed in early trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield fell to 2.365% on Monday from the final read of 2.378% on Friday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield rose to 2.846% from 2.845%.

The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

U.S. Treasuries were little changed on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury gained to 2.08% from 2.06% on Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield was unchanged from 2.64% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury was steady from 2.91%.

Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Friday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose one basis point to 2.13% from 2.12% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield gained two basis points to 2.73% from 2.71%, according to the final read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

On Friday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 80.8% compared with 81.3% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 93.8% versus 93.9%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 40,037 trades on Friday on volume of $10.08 billion.

California, Texas, and New York made up the top three states with the most trades on Friday with the Golden State taking 13.506% of the market, the Lone Star State taking 12.415% and the Empire State taking 9.577%.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 56.02% of new issuance in the week ended Jan. 19, up from 55.91% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds made up 38.24% of total issuance, down from 38.41%, while taxable bonds accounted for 5.74%, up from 5.68% a week earlier.

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Some of the most actively traded bonds by type were from Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania issuers.

In the GO bond sector, the Grand River Hospital District, Colo., 5.25s of 2037 traded 25 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority 4s of 2019 traded 41 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority 3.864s of 2038 traded 81 times.

Previous week's top underwriters
The top municipal bond underwriters of last week included Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Wells Fargo Securities and JPMorgan Securities, according to Thomson Reuters data.

In the week of Jan. 14 to Jan. 20, Morgan Stanley underwrote $1.09 billion, BAML $600.9 million, Citi $458.5 million, Wells $274.8 million and JPMorgan $235.1 million.

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Primary market
This week’s calendar consists of $5.56 billion of negotiated deals and $1.61 billion of competitive sales.

In the competitive sector on Monday, the Anoka-Hennepin Independent School District No. 11, Minn., will sell $150 million of Series 2018A general obligation school building bonds. The deal, which is backed by the Minnesota School District Credit Enhancement Program, is rated AA-plus by S&P Global Ratings.

On Tuesday, the University of Washington will competitively sell $135.99 million of Series 2018 general revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by S&P.

In the negotiated sector on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs is expected to price the Sales Tax Securitization Corp.’s approximately $661 million of sales tax securitization bonds consisting of about $361 million of tax-exempts and $300 million of taxables. The new Chicago deal looks somewhat downsized — from the delayed $898 million issue — and “is a lot different from the original” with broader appeal offered by the taxable piece, said one market participant.

The Chicago deal is rated AA by S&P and AAA by Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Goldman will also price for retail investors the state of Connecticut’s $800 million of Series 2018A special tax obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure purposes. The deal is rated AA by S&P, A-plus by Fitch and AA-plus by Kroll.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is set to price the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $832 million deal, consisting of $677 million of 207th Series of consolidated bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax and $155 million of taxable 208th Series consolidated bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

Also, BAML is expected to price the Maryland Stadium Authority’s $426 million of revenue bonds for the Baltimore City Public Schools’ construction and revitalization program on Tuesday. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Additionally, BAML is set to price for retail the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s $395 million of Series 2018A subordinated dedicated sales tax bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

And BAML is expected to price for retail the city and county of Honolulu’s $305 million of wastewater system revenue bonds, consisting of: Senior Series 2018A&B first bond resolution refunding bonds; and Junior Series 2018A taxable and Series 2018B refunding second bond resolution bonds. The senior bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by Fitch and the junior bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by Fitch.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $9.51B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $150.1 million to $9.51 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $2.61 billion of competitive sales and $6.90 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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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Chicago Sales Tax Securitization Corp State of Connecticut Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
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