Primary bond market

The city and county agreed to extend a hotel/motel tax to support bonds for a $175 million expansion.

More municipal supply hit the market on Wednesday with the University of Connecticut’s $240 million general obligation deal attracting interest.

The city moved up its bond notice and document postings in response to a BondLink report saying investors want more time to review deals.

Municipal bond analyst Natalie Cohen succeeds former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who now joins the bond insurer’s Strategic Advisory Committee.

Municipal bond buyers faced a wide variety of securities that came to market on Monday.

Action got underway in the primary on Monday as an Iowa school district sold over $100 million of general obligations.

A $1.6 billion note deal from the New York State Thruway Authority this week will roll over an issue sold in 2013 as part of a financing for the $4 billion Mario Cuomo Bridge.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded the University of Connecticut to A-plus from AA-minus.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, rose to 3.89% from 3.88% the week before.

Next week’s calendar should benefit from timing and availability coming on the heels of both the income tax deadline and the holiday-shortened week.

The hospital system will sell $250 million of bonds using the Michigan Finance Authority as conduit.

The top muni bond counsel firms accounted for $74.79 billion in 1,783 transactions in the first quarter of 2019, up from $61.46 billion in 1,655 deals a year earlier. Although overall business was up, most of the top firms didn't quite achieve higher totals than they had during the same time last year.

PFM, Acacia and Piper move up in FA rankings, as deal volume handled by the top firms rose 18.6% from last year's depressed level to $64.32 billion.

Municipal bond insurers are running close to last year's clip through the first three months of 2019, as the two active insurers wrapped $3.61 billion in 288 transactions. That compares with $3.61 billion 257 deals during the same period last year. The insurance penetration rate dipped to 4.8% from 5.9% at the end of the first quarter of last year.

The top muni underwriters counsel rankings were all shaken up, as business spiked to $48.69 billion from $41.94 billion at this point last year.

A few taxable deals came into a weaker market today, highlighting the significance of what issuers can tap into by issuing taxable munis.

The airport authority in Ohio is using capital facility charges to back bonds for the facility.

The day after tax day did not diminish demand for munis as customer inquiry, especially on the short end, was strong.

Volume for the week is estimated at $3.6 billion with a few notable deals slated for sale.

California water bonds highlight the light holiday-week calendar.