Second Consecutive Monthly Decline in Muni Volume
NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for August 2021. 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 monthly decrease in request volume for new corporate and municipal identifiers.
CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S. and Canadian corporate equity and debt fell 15.4% versus July totals. The decrease was driven largely by a decline in requests for domestic corporate equity and Canadian corporate identifiers. On a year-over-year basis, corporate CUSIP request volume rose 0.1%.
Monthly municipal volume decreased in August, the second consecutive monthly decline in muni CUSIP request volume following seven straight months of increases. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – fell 1.7% versus July totals. On an annualized basis, municipal CUSIP identifier request volumes were up 2.4% through August. Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 221 new CUSIP requests in August, followed by New York with 123 and California with 81.
“It is noteworthy that we’re seeing a second month in a row of declining CUSIP request volume, but it is also important to recognize that August is a historically slower month for issuers,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “We will continue to monitor request volumes closely to get a clearer read on expected issuance activity as we head into the fourth quarter.”
Requests for international equity and debt CUSIPs both declined in August. International equity CUSIP requests were down 8.7% versus July. International debt CUSIPs were down 0.3% on a monthly basis.
To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for August, click here.