Primary bond market

"Municipal market performance has improved, but the bumpy road continues as investors remain uncertain about the interest rate environment," said Nuveen's Head of Municipals John Miller.

The zoo's parent received double-A-level ratings with the bonds rated one to two notches lower as a result of appropriation risks.

In its analysis of primary market data from 2019 to 2021, the MSRB showed that market participants fled competitive offerings during the COVID period and preferred private placements.

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.

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.

The Investment Company Institute reported $5.128 billion of outflows for the week ending Oct. 5 after $5.374 billion of outflows the previous week.

The rating outlook boost to positive from stable follows recent progress on steadying reserve rates and paying down debt, S&P said.

Munis are in the black so far in October and some participants see signs of continued improvement.

While October is typically a busy issuance month, 2022 is not shaping up to be as more issuers are sidelined by volatility. The primary market will see another light calendar in the holiday-shortened week.

U.S. Treasuries saw more losses and municipal to UST ratios fell on the day's moves with the long bond valuation below 100%.

Steve Genyk, head of middle markets, will assume leadership of the public finance team on an interim basis, the firm said.