Primary market slows ahead of Independence Day; New York State Thruway plans $700 million BANs

By Aaron Hochman-Zimmerman and Sheri Kasprzak

New York, June 29 - After experiencing nearly a month of steady primary action, the municipal market may cool its heels this week ahead of a three-day weekend. Market insiders noted that few issuers are interested in entering the market in a short week.

"Any time we have a short week, it tends to be a fairly quiet week," one market insider said. "For one thing, you've got people taking vacations, you've got people out. Not a lot of business is going to get done."

The general tone of Monday's market was mostly unchanged, a trader said, with little trading activity to report.

"It looks like it's going to be a really quiet week," another trader said. "Today, we might be a little better, but it's mainly flat."

Investors were taking the opportunity to comb through new issues and mine for value.

"We've just got our heads down in the trenches for retail," the trader said.

The week won't be a total wash, however. In fact a rather large offering is planned on Wednesday from the New York State Thruway Authority. The authority plans to sell $700 million in series 2009A general revenue bond anticipation notes.

The notes will be sold through Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and M.R. Beal & Co. and are due July 14, 2011.

Proceeds will fund the authority's multiyear plan.

Another bid deal comes on Tuesday. Orange County in California plans to price $235.765 million in series 2009 airport revenue bonds (Aa3/AA-/AA-) through Citigroup and Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.

Proceeds will fund airport facilities and improvements.

The county seat is Santa Ana, Calif.

Oakland to sell

Moving to upcoming offerings, the City of Oakland in California is expected to sell $164 million in series 2009-2010 tax and revenue anticipation notes (MIG 1/SP-1+/F1+), said a preliminary official statement. The deal is expected to come to market in July, but no date has been set.

The sale includes $117 million in series 2009A notes and $47 million in series 2009B notes.

The 2009A notes will be sold through lead manager Barclays Capital Inc., and the 2009B notes will be sold through lead manager J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

Both notes are due July 16, 2010.

Proceeds will be used to fund general expenditures, capital expenditures and the city's contribution to the state's Public Employee Retirement System.

Arlington County deal ahead

Looking to other upcoming sales, Arlington County in Virginia plans to sell $70.495 million in series 2009 general obligation public improvement and refunding bonds July 15, said a preliminary official statement.

The bonds (Aaa/AAA/AAA) will be sold on a competitive basis with Public Financial Management Inc. as the financial adviser.

The sale includes $49.64 million in series 2009A bonds and $20.855 million in series 2009B bonds. The sale may also include series 2009C bonds, but the amount has not been set.

The 2009A bonds are due 2010 to 2029, and the 2009B bonds are due 2010 to 2014.

Proceeds will be used to make public improvements to the county as well as refund existing debt.

The county seat is Arlington, Va.

Secondary

Moving to the secondary market, traders said action was very limited, even as the tone of the market remained fairly firm but mostly unmoved.

The Port of Seattle's series 2009A revenue bonds were seen in action Monday. The 5% 2023s were seen near par.

Elsewhere, the recently priced series 2009A bonds of New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority were seen moving. The 5% 2020s were seen at 4.462%.

Also seen on Monday were the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's recently sold series 2009A revenue bonds. The 5% 2031 bonds were seen at 5.701%, and the 4.75% 2019s were seen at 5.051%.

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