CUSIP Global Services (CGS) announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for October 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 significant increases in CUSIP request volume for municipal debt and a slight decline in requests for corporate debt identifiers in October.
CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt decreased 1.3% in October. The decrease was driven by a 12.0% decrease in requests for domestic corporate debt identifiers. On a year-to-date basis through the end of October, total volume for North American corporates is down 2.2%.
Municipal CUSIP requests increased sharply in October. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – jumped 34.2% higher versus September 2019. On a year-to-date basis, municipal request volume is up 12.9% through October. So far this year, a total of 12,326 requests for municipal CUSIP IDs have been made. The record full-year volume for municipal CUSIP requests since CUSIP Global Services began tracking issuance activity in 2009 is 16,683, which was set in 2012.
“The favorable interest rate environment for debt issuers has put municipal bond CUSIP request volume on pace for a record year,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “While we have seen some month-to-month volatility in the municipal bond category over the course of 2019, the general trend for the first three quarters has been toward steady growth.”
Requests for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) were mixed in October. International equity CUSIP requests were down 4.8% from September to October 2019 and international debt CUSIP requests were up 1.8% during the month. Year-to-date international CUSIP request volume for all international securities is down 26.9% so far in 2019.
To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for October, please click here.
Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through October 2019:
| Asset Class | 2019 YTD | 2018 YTD | YOY Change |
| Short-Term Municipal Notes | 1,408 | 984 | 43.1% |
| Private Placement Securities | 2,793 | 2,524 | 10.7% |
| Municipal Bonds | 9,944 | 8,782 | 13.2% |
| CDs < 1-year Maturity | 6,948 | 6,965 | -0.2% |
| U.S. & Canada Corporates | 20,920 | 21,090 | -0.8% |
| International Debt | 2,911 | 3,358 | -13.3% |
| CDs > 1-year Maturity | 6,735 | 7,993 | -15.7% |
| Long-Term Municipal Notes | 357 | 615 | -42.0% |
| International Equity | 875 | 1,755 | -50.1% |
