Munis mostly unchanged; South Jersey Port's $157.27 million deal one of few set for next week

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Dec. 17 - Municipal yields were mostly flat on Thursday as primary activity ground to a halt. Despite the ho-hum day, one trader said there was some firmness seen, particularly for long bonds.

"Go out 30 or 40 years, and there's a little firmness," he said.

Meanwhile, a sellside source said the primary market will likely not pick up again until 2010.

"It's going to be a ghost town around here, starting tomorrow," the sellsider said.

"There might be a few things coming to market next week, but nothing substantial. Almost everyone who was set to put a deal out has already done so. The past few weeks, we did see a big rush in new issues. Everyone was trying to get in before the holidays. I think that window has closed."

Amid the light trading activity, the State of Illinois' series 2009B sales tax revenue Build America Bonds were seen moving. The 2.5% 2012 bonds were seen trading at 1.29%, and the 5% 2011 bonds were seen at 0.911%. The 5% 2018 bonds were seen at 3.61%.

Elsewhere, Wake County in North Carolina saw some interest in its series 2009 limited obligation bonds. The 3.5% 2017 bonds were trading at 2.33%.

South Jersey bonds ahead

Looking at the light pricing action ahead, the South Jersey Port Corp. plans to price $157.265 million in series 2009 revenue bonds during the week of Dec. 21, said a sales calendar.

The sale includes $4.925 million in taxable bonds, $23.58 million in series 2009 tax-exempt bonds and $128.76 million in Build America Bonds.

Raymond James & Associates Inc. is the senior manager.

Proceeds will be used to fund general capital expenditures.

The port is located in Camden, N.J.

World Trade Center bonds planned

In the coming year, the New York Liberty Development Corp. is expected to price $2.594 billion in series 2009 multi-modal liberty revenue bonds to construct three office buildings at the World Trade Center site.

The offering includes $2.581 billion in series 2009A bonds and $12.5 million in series 2009B bonds.

The bonds are due 2049 and will be sold through Goldman, Sachs & Co.

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