Municipal CUSIP Request Volume Slows, Ending Six-Month Growth Streak

Traders Magazine Online News, August 19, 2019

John D’Antona Jr.

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for July 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 declines in CUSIP request volume across most major asset classes in July.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt, increased 3.8% in July. However, the month-to-month increase was driven by an increase in federal agency programs and medium-term notes. Domestic corporate equity request volume was down 8.2%, domestic corporate debt was down 26.7% and Canadian corporates were down 15.0% during the month. Excluding federal agencies, overall U.S. and Canadian corporate issuance was down 7.3% in July. On a year-to-date basis, total volume for North American corporates was down 3.6%.

Municipal CUSIP requests decreased for the first time in six months in July. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – saw a 15.9% decrease versus June 2019. On a year-to-date basis, municipal request volume was up 8.1% through July.

"The steady monthly increases in municipal bond CUSIP request volume have ebbed for the first time this year," said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. "With interest rates still holding at historic lows, we fully expect municipal issuance activity to maintain a healthy volume, but we will be watching this metric closely in the coming weeks and months."

Requests for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) both declined in July. International equity CUSIP requests were down 13.4% from June to July 2019 and international debt CUSIP requests fell 15.2% in the month. Year-to-date international CUSIP request volume for all international securities was down 30.5% so far in 2019.

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 July 2019:

 

 

 

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