CUSIP Global Services (CGS) announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for December 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 a significant year-over-year surge in request volume for new municipal identifiers. On a monthly basis, however, CUSIP request volume trended down in December across most major asset classes. CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt decreased 14.1% in December.
The decrease was driven by a 30.2% decline in requests for domestic corporate debt identifiers, a 13.0% fall in requests for domestic corporate equity identifiers and an 18.6% drop in requests for Canadian identifiers.
For the full year 2019, total volume for North American corporates was down 1.2%.
Municipal CUSIP requests declined for the second straight month in December, after climbing for much of the year. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and shortterm notes, and commercial paper – fell 24.1% month over month.
For the full year, however, municipal request volume was up 14.7% in 2019. A grand total of 14,839 requests for municipal CUSIP identifiers were made in 2019, falling short of the record for full-year volume which was 16,683, set in 2009.
“The overall volume of municipal and corporate identifier requests was strong in 2019, driven by a combination of a favorable interest rate environment and a generally strong economy,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “As we turn the corner to 2020, our CUSIP issuance indicator appears to be signaling some caution on the part of market participants, but it is still early.”
Requests for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) were mixed in December. International equity CUSIP requests increased 6.5% from November to December 2019 and international debt CUSIP requests were down 33.2% during the month. For the full year, international CUSIP request volume for all international securities were down 22.9%.
To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for November, please click here.
Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through December 2019: Asset Class 2019 YTD 2018 YTD YOY Change Short-Term Municipal Notes 1,602 1,157 38.5% Municipal Bonds 12,142 10,485 15.8% Private Placement Securities 3,433 3,158 8.7% U.S. & Canada Corporates 25,401 24,923 1.9% CDs < 1-year Maturity 8,239 8,679 -5.1% International Debt 3,443 3,801 -9.4% CDs > 1-year Maturity 7,989 9,478 -15.7% Long-Term Municipal Notes 389 686 -43.3% International Equity 1,003 1,888 -46.9% A
