Research Quarterly: Fixed Income – Issuance and Trading

Key Takeaways for 3Q26

• Long-term fixed income issuance decreased slightly in 3Q26 to $3.0T (-5.2% Q/Q, +6.1% Y/Y). Despite the decrease, issuance exceeded $3.0T for the third consecutive quarter, a level not seen previously since 4Q21. Five out of six covered asset classes posted quarterly decreases. High levels of long-term UST issuance continued at $1.2T (-3.0% Q/Q, +1.5% Y/Y). Corporate bond issuance totaled $649.6B (-13.0% Q/Q, +13.1% Y/Y), MBS posted another strong quarter with issuance of $514.0B (-7.5% Q/Q, +4.3% Y/Y), and municipal bond issuance totaled $165.3B (-3.3% Q/Q, +5.4% Y/Y). The only asset class that posted quarterly increases in long-term issuance was agency securities with $395.0B (+13.2% Q/Q, +30.1% Y/Y).
• Average daily trading volumes for the quarter were $1.6T (+0.7% Q/Q, +12.4% Y/Y). Trading volumes for three of the covered asset classes posted quarterly increases: UST ($1,200.0B, +2.6% Q/Q), municipal ($17.5B, +19.5% Q/Q), and agency ($3.2B, +22.9% Q/Q). MBS average daily trading volumes were down 4.8% Q/Q to $340.4B, corporates totaled $62.1B (-7.2% Q/Q) and ABS was $2.6B (-0.4% Q/Q).

Select Charts

About the Report

The SIFMA Research Quarterlies contain data, statistics and chartbooks on U.S. markets and financial institutions. The fixed income reports are split into two – (1) issuance and trading, (2) outstanding – given a delay in the reporting of outstanding data. The reports cover data on total U.S. fixed income markets, as captured in the SIFMA Research databases: U.S. Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities, corporate bonds, municipal securities, federal agency securities, asset-backed securities, money markets (outstanding only), repurchase agreements (outstanding only), secured overnight financing rate (SOFR), and environmental, social and governance (ESG).