CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for September 2016. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, found a 14-month high in corporate debt volume in the month of September. Municipal bond activity, which had been steadily increasing for several months, edged lower during the month.
CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category U.S. and Canadian corporate debt and equity offerings totaled 4,516 in September, a 7% increase over August totals. The growth was driven in large part by a surge in requests for new corporate debt offering, which reached a 14-month high of 894. On a year-over-year basis, corporate debt and equity CUSIP requests for the Americas was down 5% through September.
Municipal bond requests edged lower in September, falling 2% from August totals after showing monthly increases throughout most of the second and third quarters of 2016. Total requests for new municipal bond identifiers reached 1,277 in September, which was still enough to keep year-over-year municipal issuance growth levels in positive territory at 6.2% growth over the same period in 2015.
“A combination of favorable market conditions and seasonal, quarter-end activity have conspired to keep overall CUSIP request volume at a relatively high level through the end of September,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “Based on the data we’ve seen for the first three quarters of 2016, we expect to see a sustained pace of new security issuance through the next several months.”
International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) volume increased in September. International equity CINS increased 46%, while international debt CINS increased 35% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were down 55% and international debt requests were down 17%, reflecting a volatile year of new instrument issuance activity in international markets.
“The big story on new debt issuance is all about the Federal Reserve and their decision to keep rates low,” said Richard Peterson, Senior Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence. “As long as corporate and municipal issuers can take advantage of these historically low interest rates, we expect the trend of strong new debt issuance volume to continue in force.”
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 September 2016:
|
Asset Class |
2016 ytd |
2015 ytd |
YOY Change |
|
Long Term Municipal Notes |
413 |
302 |
36.8% |
|
CDs < 1 yr Maturity |
3321 |
2706 |
22.7% |
|
Municipal Bonds |
12,215 |
11,507 |
6.2% |
|
CDs > 1 yr Maturity |
6192 |
6481 |
-4.6% |
|
U.S. & Canada Corporates |
16,717 |
17,613 |
-5.1% |
|
Private Placement Securities |
1948 |
2062 |
-5.5% |
|
Short Term Municipal Notes |
899 |
1076 |
-16.4% |
|
International Debt |
1893 |
2273 |
-16.7% |
|
International Equity[1] |
1625 |
3614 |
-55.0% |
[1] “International” Equity refers to market requests for CUSIP International Numbers (“CINS”) for non-U.S. equity offerings
