CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for April 2023. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity over the next quarter, found a monthly decrease in request volume for new corporate and municipal identifiers.
North American corporate requests totaled 6,562 in April, which is down 2.4% on a monthly basis. On a year-over-year basis, North American corporate requests closed April up 23.8% over year ago totals. Monthly declines among the corporate asset classes included U.S. corporate debt (-11.6%), U.S. corporate equity (-15.5%), and both long-term certificates of deposit (CDs) with maturities of one year or more (-20.7%), and short-term CDs with maturities under one year (-9.1%). This is the first notable monthly decline in short-term CD issuance since December 2021.
Municipal request volume also declined this month. The aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – fell 1.5% versus March totals. On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes are down 18.7%. Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 111 new CUSIP requests in April, followed by California (69) and New York (66).
“While CUSIP request volumes were muted across all major asset classes this month, the big story is in CDs, where we’ve seen short-term CD request volumes slow for the first time in 16 months,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “Time will tell whether that’s a signal that the steady rise in interest rates may be coming to an end, or just a sign of some leveling-off as the market normalizes.”
Requests for international equity CUSIPs fell 12.6% in April while international debt CUSIP requests rose 0.4%. On an annualized basis, international equity CUSIP requests are down 7.6% and international debt CUSIP requests are down 36.9%.
To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for April, please click here.
Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through April 2023:
| Asset Class | 2023 YTD | 2022 YTD | YOY Change |
| CDs < 1-year Maturity | 4,065 | 916 | 343.8% |
| Short-Term Municipal Notes |
257 | 159 | 61.6% |
| CDs > 1-year Maturity | 3,002 | 2,107 | 42.5% |
| U.S. Corporate Debt | 6,857 | 4,971 | 37.9% |
| Long-Term Municipal Notes | 96 | 98 | -2.0% |
| Syndicated Loans | 683 | 732 | -6.7% |
| International Equity |
536 | 580 | -7.6% |
| Canada Corporate Debt & Equity | 1,634 | 1,816 | -10.0% |
| Municipal Bonds | 2,703 | 3,555 | -24.0% |
| U.S. Corporate Equity | 3,113 | 4,165 | -25.3% |
| Private Placement Securities | 1,107 | 1,528 | -27.6% |
| International Debt | 928 | 1,471 | -36.9% |
