Primary bond market

RBC and two muni managers settled charges of flipping bonds in the SEC's latest action targeting abuse of retail order periods.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.3 billion of inflows and an increase in high-yield flows, marking the 28th consecutive week the fund complex saw inflows.

Illinois trimmed yield penalties in its latest sales tax-backed sale with spreads of 40 and 45 basis points on its 10-year compared to 89 bp three years ago.

While falling to the lowest amount of inflows since June 2, the total for the year according to ICI at $72 billion, is still on pace to come close to or break the record, $93.2 billion, hit in 2019.

Ridership on the RTA's three service boards remains sharply below pre-pandemic levels but it benefits from coronavirus relief and stellar sales tax performance.

Large new issues from California, New York utilities and airport deals were repriced to lower yields and remained the focus for the municipal market, again ignoring a swing by U.S. Treasuries.

Market participants welcomed the municipal-related provisions in the reconciliation bill but are hesitant to start making bets on its passage.

The university heads into the market this week with a mix of tax-exempt, taxable, new money sustainability and refunding bonds

A larger new-issue calendar greets investors with a lot of cash on hand and strategists expect municipal yields to rise as the calendar builds.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.1 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, with high-yield falling to $144 million. Even with the lower reported inflows, funds still raked in record billions so far in 2021.

The state prices $2.1 billion for institutions on Tuesday, also the date of the statewide vote on whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its Beige Book report that U.S. economic growth slipped to a more moderate pace between early July and the end of August.

Altru's deal drew a downgrade from Fitch Ratings and a raised outlook from Moody's Investors Service.

The deal enhances the data, analytics and execution services the firms provide for municipal bonds and other fixed income securities, they said.

The taxable deal from Georgia's largest not-for-profit health system offers investors three index-eligible bullet maturities in 10, 20 and 30 years.

As the market prepares for a smaller primary calendar in the holiday-shortened week, fund flows again are worth exploring as a strong demand component for 2021.

Moody's moved its outlook to positive on Minnesota's Aa1 rating, and S&P went to stable from negative on its AAA rating ahead of the state's annual bond sale.

Analysts cited long-term structural balance and high reserves in lifting S&P's outlook on the Golden State's AA-minus rating.

Refinitiv Lipper reported just over $1 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, an $800 million drop from a week prior, moving the four week moving average to $1.6 billion.

ICI reported $1.99 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, bringing the total to $69 billion for 2021.