Research Quarterly: Fixed Income – Issuance and Trading

Key Takeaways for 1Q26

• Fixed income issuance posted another strong quarter at $3.2T (+13.7% Q/Q, +10.3% Y/Y). This was the first quarter where issuance exceeded $3.0T since 4Q21, with five out of six covered asset classes posting quarterly increases. High levels of long-tern UST issuance continued at $1.2T (+2.5% Q/Q, +2.3% Y/Y), marking the seventh consecutive quarter with issuance above $1T. Corporate issuance, at $775.2B (+70.3% Q/Q, +15.6% Y/Y) rose to the largest quarterly total since 2Q20. MBS also posted a strong quarter with issuance of $540.8B (+1.0% Q/Q, +30.0% Y/Y). Municipal bonds issuance totaled $127.8B (-12.3% Q/Q, +5.8% Y/Y) and was the only asset class with a quarterly dip in issuance.
• Average daily trading volumes for the quarter were $1.8T (+24.9% Q/Q and +20.2% Y/Y). UST ($1,288.8, +28.0% Q/Q), MBS ($414.9B, +16.4% Q/Q), corporates ($71.4B, +29.5% Q/Q), agency ($3.4B, +1.6% Q/Q), and ABS ($2.7B, +50.5% Q/Q) trading volumes all posted quarterly increases after a slower 4Q25.
• At the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the Fed maintained the target range for the Fed Funds rate at 3.50%-3.75%, with almost all members supporting the decision.

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).