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CUSIP Request Volume Mixed In November, Suggesting Possible Divergence In Corporate And Municipal Issuance Activity Over Next Quarter - Municipal Request Volume Declines While Corporate Volume Increases On Month-To-Month Basis

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for November 2018. 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 monthly increases in domestic corporate issuance, while requests for municipal and international identifiers declined in November. This is suggestive of a possible slowdown in the pace of new issuance activity in the first quarter of the New Year.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S. corporate offerings, which includes both equity and debt, were up 12.6% from October. On a year-over-year basis, corporate identifier request volume through November 2018 is 5.5% higher than the same period in 2017.

Municipal CUSIP requests declined in November. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – saw a 4.8% decrease versus October. On a year-over-year basis, total municipal identifier request volume is down 12.7% versus the same period last year.

"Uncertainty over the future of interest rates is clearly starting to show up in the CUSIP data set, particularly as we start to see some volatility in the monthly activity," said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. "While the Fed has signaled that it will raise rates again in December, it is not yet clear what's in store for 2019, so we expect to continue to see a fair amount of volatility in our monthly CUSIP request volumes."

Request for new international debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) also decreased in November. International equity CINS were down 37.5% during the month, while international debt CINS fell 19.2% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were up 2.5% and international debt requests were up 0.1%.

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 November 2018:

Asset Class

2018 ytd

2017 ytd

YOY Change

CDs < 1 yr Maturity

7914

5781

36.9%

Long Term Municipal 
Notes

657

533

18.8%

CDs > 1 yr Maturity

8861

7808

13.5%

International Equity

1820

1776

2.5%

Private Placement 
Securities

2819

2777

1.5%

International Debt

3657

3655

0.1%

Short Term Municipal 
Notes

 

1085

 

1093

 

-0.7%

U.S. & Canada 
Corporates 

23,485

25,654

-8.5%

Municipal Bonds

9747

11,438

-14.8%

 

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