Primary bond market

This week's $9.4 billion calendar "should easily be absorbed as it is set to be the last full primary calendar of the year, given the Fed meeting the following week and then Christmas and New Year's holidays," Birch Creek Capital strategists said in a weekly report.

The City Colleges of Chicago is planning to issue $201 million in unlimited tax GO refunding bonds, bolstered by an upgrade and a new positive rating outlook.

Pennsylvania leads the new-issue calendar with $2.1 billion of GOs in four series via the competitive market while the New York City TFA will bring another $1.4 billion of exempts and taxables.

Triple-A yields have fallen up to 95 basis points on the month, supply is up 7.8% year-over-year for November and the month is posting positive returns, which has, in turn, led to well over 3.50% returns year-to-date.

The continued drop in yields has been "buoyed by a broad rate rally and intra-market fundamentals that simply have created more buyers than sellers," noted Kim Olsan, senior vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.

Delayed over the summer amid rising interest rates, Miami-Dade County is now set to come to market with its taxable revenue bond sale for PortMiami.

Illinois spreads tightened considerably after ratings upgrades earlier this year. The state saw up to 10 bidders on $875 million of taxable and tax-exempt GOs.

While the muni market faces some headwinds, such as rich relative yields, near-term returns "are likely to be favorable for munis," said Cooper Howard, a fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab.

"The November muni rally continues as month-to-date returns are now at 4.68%, pushing us further into positive territory for the year as year-to-date returns now stand at 2.35%," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

Proceeds from the social bond issue will go to support high-performing public charter schools across the United States and promote educational equity.