Municipals little changed ahead of $6 billion calendar; Massachusetts prepares two offerings

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Nov. 4 - Municipals were mostly unchanged to slightly cheaper on Monday, said market sources.

Several issuers held retail order periods on Monday, and most of them saw solid receptions, insiders said.

"There's not a lot of movement, per se, but there's some spotty weakness, probably carried over from last week," a trader said during the session.

Trading was solid during the early part of the day, traders said, with some selling pressure easing in the afternoon.

Looking to primary action, the market is expected to see about $6 billion of new issues this week, about the same as last week and less than the week before when the primary side saw about $8 billion of new issues, said Tom Kozlik, municipal credit analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.

Massachusetts leads issues

Heading up the issuance for the week, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will hit the market with two offerings.

The commonwealth plans to sell $362.96 million of series 2013A commonwealth transportation fund revenue bonds (Aaa) through lead manager BofA Merrill Lynch.

The bonds are due 2023 to 2037 with term bonds due in 2040 and 2043.

Proceeds will be used to finance the construction and improvement of bridges in the commonwealth and to advance refund a portion of the commonwealth's series 2005A consolidated loan special obligation revenue bonds.

GANs ahead

Also coming up from Massachusetts is a $287,865,000 offering of series 2013A federal highway grant anticipation notes (Aa1/AAA/).

The notes will be sold through Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

The bonds are due 2016 to 2027.

Proceeds will be used to design, construct, reconstruct and repair bridges within the commonwealth as part of its Accelerated Bridge Program Act.

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