CUSIP Requests Climb Again In March Signaling Corporate And Muni Bond Surge - Second Straight Volume Increase Suggests Robust Pace Of New Issuance In First Quater Of 2017

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for March 2017. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, found an uptick in the pre-trade market for corporate and municipal bonds in March. This volume of pre-trade activity in corporate and municipal bond markets is suggestive of future growth in new securities issuance volume.

CUSIP identifier requests for U.S. and Canadian corporate debt and equity offerings totaled 2,479 in March, a 0.2% increase from February 2017 totals. So far this year, demand for new CUSIPs for both corporate debt and equity offerings are up considerably over 2016 totals. For Q1, domestic equity CUSIP volume is up 70% and domestic debt CUSIP volume is up 26% over the same time period in 2016.

Municipal bond requests also increased in March following a slow start to the year.  A total of 1,066 muni identifier requests were made during the month, an increase of 14% over February.  On a year-over-year basis, municipal bond request volume was down 19% through the end of March 2017.

“Following a significant slowdown in CUSIP demand toward the tail end of 2016 and first few weeks of 2017, the turnaround we’ve seen over the past two months has been significant,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “Clearly, both corporate and municipal issuers are seeing an opportunity in the current marketplace to issue new securities.”

International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) volume both grew in March.  International equity CINS increased 34% and international debt CINS increased 46% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were down 9.6% and international debt requests were up 118%, reflecting continued volatility in international markets.

“The CUSIP indicator has become a sentiment indicator, continually taking the pulse of new security issuers as they weigh the potential impact of geopolitical and economic uncertainty on the markets,” said Richard Peterson, Senior Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Based on the volume of CUSIP requests that we’re currently seeing, the marketplace still sees a window of opportunity in the first half of 2017.”

To view a copy of the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report, please click here.  

Following is a breakdown of New CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date, through March 2017: