Primary bond market

Selling pressure was on the rise again this week. Thursday's $2.919 billion of bonds out for the bid was only surpassed on March 19, 2020, when they hit $4.115 billion. A larger calendar closes out October.

Corporate CUSIPs can reach a different, broader set of investors than even taxable munis and offer more issuing flexibility for well-known universities.

The sale will fund improvements and repairs to public parks, waterfronts, and roads across the double-A-plus rated city.

"The curve slope has undergone a massive flattening this year and recent trends suggest demand pockets are developing in specific ranges," said Kim Olsan, senior vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.

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.

"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.