CUSIP request volume signals strong pace of U.S. corporate equity & debt issuance in Q1

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) has announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for January 2018. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, found an increase in CUSIP request volume for new U.S. corporate equities and debt, but sharp decreases in the municipal bond market. This is suggestive of as strong pace of new corporate issuance and a slowdown in new muni issuance in the early weeks of 2018.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S. and Canadian corporate offerings, which includes both equity and debt, totaled 4,728 in January, up 12% from December, driven by an 8% increase in requests for new U.S. corporate equity identifiers and a 10% increase in new U.S. corporate debt identifiers. Requests for Canadian corporate debt and equity identifiers declined 19% in January, bringing the year-over-year performance for the combined category to a 2% decline.

By contrast, municipal CUSIP requests were more than halved in January, falling 57% from December volumes, with just 732 new muni identifiers requested during the first month of the year. On a year-over-year basis, muni request volume was down 26% versus January 2017.

We’re still seeing fallout from the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act in our muni request volumes,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. “While lawmakers are currently reviewing a new bill that would restore the tax exemption for advance refunding bonds, for now, the marketplace is reacting to the tax reform by dramatically curtailing their pre-trade activity.

International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) were mixed in January. International equity CINS were down 26% during the month, while international debt CINS increased 29% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were up 29% and international debt requests were up 37%, reflecting continued volatility in international markets.