Muni Minute

This week's negotiated calendar is headlined by taxable deals from Stanford Health Care, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority and the Illinois Finance Authority while Massachusetts is set to sell two big tax-free competitive offerings

The primary market is set for yet another week of hyperactivity as issuers make one final push to get advance refundings done before they disappear.

With another $20-plus billion on the docket, it's expected to be another frenzy-filled week in the municipal primary market. Issuers continue to sprint to market ahead of the looming tax bill that will alter the market’s landscape. Investor demand won’t be short either, as both traditional and crossover buyers will be fighting for allocations.

Municipal market participants are preparing and bracing for a market without advance refundings and perhaps private activity bonds as major tax changes draw closer. Municipal issuers are coming together and giving the market one last gasp of these types of bonds before they are no longer allowed to do so and in the process, have created what could potentially be a historic $17.4 billion of issuance.

The holiday shopping season begins in earnest this week as municipal bond issuers offer buyers a slew of new tax-exempt deals as they rush to beat possible changes to the tax code for 2018.

With the future of advance refundings and private activity bonds up in the air, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has decided to take action and advance refund debt while they still can. Given the uncertainty, the MTA’s move could be repeated by many other issuers in position to do so, elevating issuance for the rest of the year.

Tax reform legislation will be front and center this week, snatching the market’s attention as Congress moves ahead with measures that will change the bond marketplace in the near- and long-term. Both the House and Senate are taking up muni proposals that will directly impact issuers, underwriters and bond buyers.

Nearly $23 billion worth of bonds are on ballots in Tuesday’s election, which could fuel 2018 issuance.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets in Washington this week amid uncertainty over who will lead the Central Bank. What do higher interest rates and a possible new Fed head this mean for the municipal bond market going forward?

In what’s easily the largest deal of the year, Illinois is set to come to market with $4.5 billion of general obligation bonds that will help pay down a bill backlog that’s around $15 billion. The lowest-rated U.S. state has momentum going its way after last week’s successful $1.5 billion competitive GO sales -- and Illinois is hoping that success spills over into this week’s negotiated offering.