Release Date: May 25, 2016 

Contact: Katrina Cavalli, 212.313.1181, [email protected]

SIFMA Publishes Quarterly Research Report for 1Q 2016

New York, NY, May 25, 2016—SIFMA today published its Research Quarterly Report for the first quarter of 2016. This report compiles statistics, including issuance data, for a broad range of asset classes across the U.S. capital markets. The full report is available at the following link: http://www.sifma.org/research/item.aspx?id=8589960601

Highlights of the report include:  

Total long-term securities issuance was $1.65 trillion in 1Q’16, an 11.6 percent increase from $1.48 trillion issued in 4Q’15 but a 5.4 percent decline year-over-year (y-o-y) from $1.75 trillion in 1Q’15. Issuance rose quarter to quarter (q-o-q) across all asset classes except mortgage-related securities issuance. 

Long-term public municipal issuance volume, including private placements, totaled $99.7 billion in the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 17.7 percent from the prior quarter ($84.7 billion) but a decline of 8.0 percent y-o-y ($84.7 billion).  

Total gross issuance of Treasury bills and coupons, including cash management bills (CMBs), Floating Rate Notes and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), was $2.14 trillion in 1Q’16, up 18.0 percent from $1.81 trillion in 4Q’15 and a 24.6 percent increase from 1Q’15 issuance of 1.72 trillion. U.S. Treasury net issuance, including CMBs, decreased to a net $244.0 billion in the first quarter but was a 72.8 percent increase from 1Q’15 net issuance of $141.2 billion.  

Federal agency long-term debt issuance was $147.0 billion in the first quarter, a 20.9 percent increase from $125.5 billion in 4Q’15 and 7.1 percent above 137.2 billion issued in 1Q’15.    

Issuance of mortgage-related securities, including agency and non-agency passthroughs and collateralized mortgage obligations, totaled $326.3 billion in the first quarter, a 16.1 percent decline from 4Q’15 (379.3 billion) but a 1.6 percent increase y-o-y ($385.4 billion). Asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance totaled $37.8 billion in the first quarter, an increase of 13.9 percent q-o-q but a decline of 36.4 percent y-o-y. The auto sector continued to lead issuance totals with $26.2 billion (69.3 percent of 1Q’16 total issuance), followed by esoteric ABS ($3.7 billion, or 9.7 percent).  

Corporate bond issuance totaled $396.0 billion in 1Q’16, up 34.6 percent increase from the $294.1 billion issued in 4Q’15 but 9.7 percent below 1Q’15’s issuance of $438.4 billion.

Equity underwriting increased by 23.2 percent to $48.7 billion in the first quarter from the four-year low of $39.5 billion in 4Q’15 but was 45.6 percent below the 89.5 billion issued in 1Q’15. Equity underwriting volume in 1Q’16 was 26.3 percent below the five-year average of $66.1 billion. The number of equity underwriting deals fell to 160, down 9.6 percent q-o-q and 50 percent y-o-y.