Markets

Outflows returned as Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.217 billion was pulled out of municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $46.912 million of inflows the week prior.

The Fed chairman said he believes the Fed is getting close to a sufficiently restrictive level, but they're not quite there. While two good inflation reports are good, "there's still a long way to go to price stability."

Last week's deal, upsized to $533 million, attracted $4.5 billion of orders after positive rating news including the end of Moody's speculative grade status.

The CPI report showed inflation had slowed to 7.1%, giving investors confidence the Federal Open Market Committee will hike rates 50 basis points as expected following Wednesday's much-anticipated meeting.

Moody's downgraded $651 million of Main Line Health Services revenue bond debt to A1 from Aa3.

The December Federal Open Market Committee meeting, combined with the release of inflation data, "will test the good cheer currently prevailing in the bond market," said MSCI Research strategists Andy Sparks, Tamas Hanis and Edina Szirma.

Projections for total bond volume in 2023 are at a high of $500 billion and a low of $302 billion, continuing 2022's lackluster growth.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a new-issue calendar estimated at $3.214 billion, the majority of which is a nearly $1.9 billion private activity P3 bond deal from Pennsylvania.

Arrick was formerly a managing director and healthcare group leader for S&P Global Ratings.

The borrowing, which will be backed by availability payments, will finance the first six of the state's nine-span Major Bridges P3 program.