Pre-Trade Municipal Bond Activity Shows Highest Monthly Volumes of 2017
Spin-Offs Outperform, But Only If You Get In Early
NEW YORK, NY, JULY 14, 2017 – CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for June 2017. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, found a surge in the pre-trade market for municipal issues while overall corporate requests increased despite a slight decline in equity and debt issuance in June. This increased demand for new CUSIP IDs for corporate and municipal bonds is suggestive of a possible uptick in new security issuance volume over the coming weeks.
CUSIP identifier requests for U.S. and Canadian corporate offerings totaled 4,757 in June, up 9% from May with strong certificate of deposit issuance outpacing declines in debt and equity requests. So far this year, demand for new CUSIPs for both corporate debt and equity offerings are up 31% over the same period in 2016.
Municipal requests also increased in June. A total of 1,715 muni identifier requests were made during the month, an increase of 21% over May. This made June the most active month so far in 2017 for new requests for municipal CUSIPs. Despite this growth, municipal request volume was down 21% through the end of June 2017 on a year-over-year basis, reflecting some volatility in municipal issuance volumes over the course of this year.
“The fact that CUSIP request volume continues to remain strong even in the face of climbing interest rates is a reflection of issuers’ intent to stay active in the markets in the coming months,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “It speaks to a larger perception among market participants that this is still a viable market for raising new capital and introducing new equity and debt offerings.”
International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) volume also saw incremental volume increases in June. International equity CINS increased 9% and international debt CINS increased 15% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were down 9% and international debt requests were up 69%, reflecting continued volatility in international markets.
“Despite some month-to-month choppiness in CUSIP request volume, overall, we’re seeing every indication that 2017 is shaping up to be a year of healthy new security issuance volume,” said Richard Peterson, Senior Director, S&P Global Market Intelligence. “When all is said and done, we may be down a few notches in some asset classes and up in others, but the big picture outlook is for a strong volume of issuance in the coming weeks and months.”
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 2017:
About CUSIP Global Services
The financial services industry relies on CGS’ unrivaled experience in uniquely identifying instruments and entities to support efficient global capital markets. Its extensive focus on standardization over the past 45 years has helped CGS earn its reputation as a trusted originator of quality identifiers and descriptive data, ensuring that essential front- and back-office functions run smoothly. Relied upon worldwide as the industry standard provider of reliable, timely reference data, CGS is also a founding member and co-operates the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) Service Bureau, a global security and entity identifier database for over 34 million public and privately traded instruments, contributed by 92 national numbering agencies and 27 partner agencies representing 255 different countries. CGS is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association (ABA) by S&P Global Market Intelligence, with a Board of Trustees that represents the voices of leading financial institutions. For more information, visit www.cusip.com.
About The American Bankers Association
The American Bankers Association represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation’s $13 trillion banking industry and its 2 million employees. Learn more at www.aba.com.
