Corporate And Municipal CUSIP Request Volumes Fall For Second Straight Month In August - Short-Term CDs Extend Eight-Month Growth Streak

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for August 2022. 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 5,066 in August 2022, which is down 3.6% on a monthly basis. On a year-over-year basis, corporate requests were up 8.1%. August volumes were driven by a 23.7% decrease in requests for new Canadian corporate debt and equity identifiers and a 31.8% decline in request volume for medium-term notes. Short-term certificates of deposit (CDs) identifiers continued their growth streak, rising 16.1% in August. On a year-over-year CUSIP request volume for short-term CDs is up 192.7% based on much lower issuance in 2021. Also of note, U.S. corporate equity requests surged 21.2% and U.S. corporate debt requests rose 20.2% this month.

Municipal request volume also declined in August. The aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – fell 2.0% versus July totals. On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes were down 18.8%. Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 206 new CUSIP requests in August, followed by New York with 131 and California with 64.

“While the overall trend in CUSIP request volume is down for the second month in a row, there are some interesting pockets of growth that suggest the trend may not continue – notably in U.S. corporate debt and equity, both of which saw double-digit gains this month,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “We will continue to monitor these trends closely as we move through this highly unpredictable economic cycle.”

Requests for international equity CUSIPs rose 23.8% in August, while international debt CUSIP requests fell 16.5%. On an annualized basis, international equity CUSIP requests were down 38.9% and international debt CUSIP requests were down 33.0%.

To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for August, click here.

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through August 2022: