New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority

The legislation gives up to $8.84 billion in bonding authority to the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority over a five-year period beginning July 1, about $1.76 billion annually.

"Demand is firming up. Interest rates have moved off the recent highs. Intermediate muni yields are about 50 basis points off from those highs," said Stephen Shutz, head of tax-exempt fixed income and a portfolio manager at Brown Advisory.

State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio said lower-than-predicted fuel use in fiscal 2023 meant a 0.9-cent lift to the Petroleum Products Gross Receipt tax rate.

The largest deal of the week comes from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority with $950 million of exempts and $250 million of taxables.

The agency cited “the appropriation of the full actuarial pension contribution in fiscal 2022 for the first time in 26 years" coupled with improved reserves.

The municipal market largely ignored the FOMC news that it would hold rates steady. New Jersey was 20 times oversubscribed and ICI reported $2.5 billion of inflows into long-term municipal bond mutual funds.

The dearth of supply will likely hold down rates and keep certain investors out of the muni market. High-yield municipal bonds, still the most in-demand sector, tightened again.

The Investment Company Institute reported municipal bond funds saw $2.675 billion of inflows in the latest reporting week.

Selling in a week with an expected light calendar should help the deal as will market fundamentals.

The top municipal issuers easily surpassed their issuance totals from 2018 year, with $400.51 billion in 10,582 transactions in 2019 compared to $320.35 billion in 8,549 deals the year before. California regained control of the throne after coming in third in 2018.