U.S. Corporate And Municipal Debt Issuance Projected To Grow, CUSIP Requests Show - Pre-Trade Corporate Debt Activity Reaches Highest Level Of 2016

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for April 2016.  The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, suggests continued growth in issuance of new corporate and municipal debt offerings over the next several weeks.

Total CUSIP requests for new U.S. corporate debt increased 20% over March totals, with a total of 769 new identifiers requested over the course of April.  Requests for new CUSIP identifiers for U.S. equity identifiers decreased 12%. On a year-over-year basis, corporate CUSIP request volume for both debt and equity asset classes across the U.S. and Canada was down 18% through April 2016 versus April 2015, reflecting weak volumes in January 2016 and comparatively strong issuance volumes in the early part of 2015.

The volume of requests for new municipal CUSIP identifiers saw a third consecutive month-to-month increase in April.  A total of 1,443 new municipal bond identifier requests were made over the course of the month, a 1% increase from March.  On a year-over-year basis, municipal bond identifier requests were down 7% in April.

Regionally, municipal bond issuers in Texas demanded the highest volume of new CUSIP identifiers in April, accounting for a total of 189 identifier requests during the month.  For the first four months of 2016, municipal debt issuers in Texas accounted for 11% of all municipal CUSIP request volume.

“Debt markets around the world are continuing to show evidence of strong activity in the pre-trade environment,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services.  “While we are still off some of the highs reached in the first part of last year, the recent trend in CUSIP request volume has been indicative of a healthy market for new debt issuance.”

International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) were mixed in April. Requests for new international debt CINS were up 19%, while requests for new equity CINS were down 13%.  On a year-over-year basis international debt CINS were down 38% and international equity CINS were down 57% through April 2016. 

“As long as the interest rate environment continues to favor debt issuance, we expect to see this trend toward steady increases month-to-month volume continuing,” said Richard Peterson, Senior Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence.  “While this month’s growth trajectory was not quite as pronounced as we’ve seen in recent months, it appears that the appetite is still very strong for debt issuers.”

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 April 2016: