Primary bond market

The North Carolina Medical Care Commission got the green light to issue $105.1 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds to fund a five-story building that will house 71 independent living apartments.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw more losses on Wednesday with the Investment Company Institute reporting another week of multi-billion-dollar outflows, bringing year-to-date losses to $123.3 billion.

The market has seen outflows for 13 straight weeks, per Refinitiv Lipper, but Nuveen strategists Anders S. Persson and John V. Miller said "selling is due primarily to investors harvesting tax losses."

Voters will decide on more than $60 billion of bond ballot measures Tuesday with New York voters faced with the largest amount at $4.2 billion.

JobsOhio liquor profit, state revolving fund and GARVEE bonds scheduled to hit the market over the next two weeks.

ICE TMC, part of ICE Bonds, provides market participants access to an all-to-all market for trading munis and other bonds.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a new-issue calendar estimated at $5.268 billion.

The $200 million bond deal prices next week. The Jesuit school absorbed the nearby University of the Sciences earlier this year.

High-yield saw outflows of $867.067 million after $594.497 million of outflows the week prior while exchange-traded funds saw inflows of $736.967 million after $444.544 million of inflows the previous week.

Investors pulled $3.843 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 26 after $3.876 billion of outflows the previous week, according to ICI.

October returns were in the red with the Bloomberg Municipal Index showing a loss of 0.83% for the month, bringing total losses in 2022 to 12.86%. Only May and July saw positive returns for the asset class.

The state school in Ypsilanti is responding to declining enrollment with a student housing makeover financed through a public-private partnership.

With the Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week and the next week shortened by the bond market observance of Veterans Day, CreditSights strategists said "investors should be prepared for two weeks of subdued new issuance."

Total October volume was $24.951 billion in 510 deals versus $41.811 billion in 1,068 issues a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data.

The upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday has led to a lighter new-issue calendar with $2.72 billion on tap.

Municipal to UST ratios have risen this week with the 10-year approaching 90% and the 30-year topping 100%.

Outflows continued as investors pulled $3.876 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 19 after $4.532 billion of outflows the previous week, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority will restructure a portion of fiscal 2023 debt service amid tax collections still recovering from the pandemic.

While muni performance has turned negative for October, "the asset class is significantly outperforming UST," said Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer Inc.

As issuers push against a financial disclosure bill pending in the Senate, some buy-siders say standardized disclosure would attract more investors and boost liquidity.