Markets

Decisions by three organizations to drop Moody's ratings underscore an industry-wide trend as the sector struggles with rising costs and narrowing margins.

Outflows continued as investors pulled $4.532 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 12 after $5.172 billion of outflows the previous week, according to the Investment Company Institute.

CommonSpirit Health priced more than $1 billion of debt on schedule Tuesday after disclosing a ransomware attack that has impacted some IT operations.

Triple-A curves were a touch firmer in spots as secondary trading took a backseat to the larger primary activity with Connecticut and Massachusetts pricing general obligation bonds, a large CommonSpirit healthcare and several competitive issues led by Rhode Island GOs.

Volume rebounds eightfold this week with a new-issue calendar of $8.5 billion, including several billion-dollar deals.

The two hires boost Bancroft's muni staff to 11 in offices in Dallas, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and San Mateo, California.

"Despite a pick-up in volatility in the rates market, municipals have been performing relatively well in October," according to Barclays PLC.

The nation's largest not-for-profit health system returns to the market with a mix of new money and refunding debt offering tax-exempts and taxables.

Moody's says Hawaii's tourism-based economy is disproportionately vulnerable to high inflation. It affirmed the state at Aa2 ahead of a $800 million GO deal.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $2.262 billion of outflows from municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $2.057 billion the week prior.