Municipal CUSIP Request Volume Increases for Sixth Straight Month

Traders Magazine Online News, July 18, 2019

John D’Antona Jr.

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for June 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 sixth consecutive increase in requests for new municipal debt identifiers, while other major asset classes were flat in June.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt, decreased 0.4% between May and June. A 4.5% monthly decline in requests for U.S. corporate equity identifiers was largely offset by a 4.0% increase in requests for U.S. corporate debt identifiers. Volume was flat in Canada. On a year-to-date basis, total volume for North American corporates was down 5.4%. 

Municipal CUSIP requests increased for the sixth straight month in June. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – saw a 5.2% increase versus May 2019 and a 7.5% increase on a year-to-date basis.

"With the 10-year U.S. Treasury benchmark hovering at around 2%, municipal issuers are clearly taking advantage of the low rate environment to raise new debt," said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. "Though activity across most asset classes was muted in June, municipal request volume may continue to increase in the second half of the year."

Requests for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) were flat in June. International equity CINS were unchanged versus the previous month, while international debt CINS increased 2.6% during the same period.

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 June 2019:

 

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:

• Fixed Income