Corporate And Municipal CUSIP Volumes Rise In March - Reverses Three-Month Downward Trend In Municipal CUSIP Request Volume

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for March 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 an increase in request volume for new corporate and municipal identifiers.

North American corporate requests totaled 6,725 in March, which is up 5.9% on a monthly basis. On a year-over-year basis, North American corporate requests closed out March up 25.5% over year ago totals. The increase in corporate CUSIP request volume was driven largely by increases in corporate equity volume, which rose 20.9% over February totals. Certificate of Deposit (CD) volumes also rose this month. Longer-term CDs, with maturities of one year or more climbed 4.8% and short-term CDs, with maturities under one year, were up 6.8% versus last month. U.S. corporate debt issuance declined 10.5% in March after a strong start to the year but is still up 40.7% over a year ago totals.

Municipal request volume also increased this month following three straight months of declines. The aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – rose 32.2% versus February totals. On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes are down 22.8%. Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 89 new CUSIP requests in March, followed by New York (83) and Wisconsin (74).

“We’re definitely seeing some noteworthy pre-market activity in both corporate and municipal asset classes,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “Corporate CUSIP requests have logged their third straight monthly increase in volume and municipal volumes have reversed a three-month downward trend with a 32.2% monthly increase. It will be interesting to see how these moves play out during the year when it comes to new issuance volume.”

Requests for international equity CUSIPs rose 24.3% in March while international debt CUSIP requests fell 2.0%. On an annualized basis, international equity CUSIP requests are down 12.4% and international debt CUSIP requests are down 40.5%.

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

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through March 2023: