Municipals close flat, outperforming Treasuries ahead of Christmas; Ohio bonds on tap

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Dec. 24 - Municipals were mostly flat on Tuesday during the short session ahead of Christmas, market insider said. With extremely light primary activity and an equally light secondary market, municipals had little to push yields.

"We're outperforming Treasuries again," said a trader early in the afternoon.

While municipals were lightly traded and mostly flat, Treasuries took a hit following the release of durable goods orders and new homes sales data.

The 10-year note yield jumped by 5.5 basis points to end the day at 2.986%, and the 30-year bond yield climbed 4.5 bps to 3.898%. The five-year note yield climbed by 3.5 bps to 1.744%.

Ohio offering set

Although new issues were scarce during the week ahead of Christmas, the beginning of January will feature a new general obligation offering from the State of Ohio.

On Jan. 8, the state is prepared to price $150 million of series 2014A infrastructure improvement G.O. bonds.

The bonds, which are due 2015 to 2034, will be sold on a competitive basis.

Proceeds will be used to finance capital improvements for local subdivisions.

Northeastern University eyed

Also coming up in the New Year, there are two offerings totaling $250 million slated to price for Northeastern University.

The offerings include $150 million of revenue bonds from the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency. The university itself will price $100 million.

Barclays and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC will be the senior managers.

Proceeds from the bonds (A2) will be used to construct, design and equip a new interdisciplinary science and engineering building, as well as to renovate existing administrative and office space.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.