CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for September 2019. 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 increases in CUSIP request volume for corporate debt and decreases in request volume for municipal debt in September.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt increased 6.6% in September. The growth was driven by a 38.0% increase in requests for domestic corporate debt identifiers. On a year-to-date basis, total volume for North American corporates was down 7.8% through the end of September.

Municipal CUSIP requests decreased in September. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – saw a 9.2% decrease versus August 2019. On a year-to-date basis, municipal request volume is up 8.3% through September.

“The significant monthly growth in requests for new corporate debt identifiers in September is noteworthy,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “While most of this year has been marked by relatively moderate swings in month-to-month request volume volatility, the 38.0% monthly increase in volume for domestic corporate debt identifiers is a sign that corporate issuers are indeed seizing the current interest rate environment to raise capital.”

Requests for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) both rose in September. International equity CUSIP requests were up 3.8% from August to September 2019 and international debt CUSIP requests were up 33.3% during the month. Year-to-date international CUSIP request volume for all international securities is down 28.7% so far in 2019.

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

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through September 2019: