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1996 Survey of Corporate Medium-Term Notes 
Source: Federal Reserve Release

U.S. corporations issued $93.7 billion of medium-term notes (MTNs) in 1996, down from a record $98.9 billion in 1995 (table 1.A). The slower pace of issuance is entirely attributable to non-financial firms, which sold $11.7 billion in 1996, $7.8 billion less than in 1995. Issuance by financial firms rose $2.5 billion to $82.0 billion, a record for these firms. A total of 165 firms sold MTNs in 1996, the fewest since 1990 and 30 fewer than in 1995. The number of non-financial issuers, which dropped by one-third, fully accounted for this decline; the number of financial issuers increased by 9 to 87. Since 1983, when the Federal Reserve began collecting these data, 528 companies have raised funds in the MTN market, including 206 financial companies and 322 non-financial companies. During 1996, total MTNs outstanding rose $19.8 billion to $287.3 billion. As of year-end, 411 firms 126 financial and 285 non-financial had MTNs outstanding.

The corporations that issued MTNs in 1996 continued to have high credit ratings. More than 99 percent of the MTNs issued last year had investment-grade ratings. Single-A-rated issuers were again most common and accounted for 65 percent of total issuance. Only four firms with speculative-grade ratings issued MTNs last year. Because the volume of speculative-grade issues has always been small, outstanding MTNs also have high credit ratings; 98 percent of outstanding MTNs were rated investment-grade at year-end 1996.

The MTN market accounts for a sizable share of intermediate- and long-term borrowing by U.S. companies. One measure of the MTN market share is the volume of MTN issuance as a percentage of total public issuance of investment-grade debt (MTNs plus straight corporate bonds).  MTNs were less important in 1996 than in 1995, as the issuance ratio dropped 4 percentage points, to 43 percent. The reduced importance of MTNs was particularly pronounced among non-financial companies, which reduced their relative usage of MTNs for long-term financing by 10 percentage points, to 16 percent. Given the reduced importance............

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Recommended further reading:
Corporate Medium Term Notes (MTNs)
Corporate Promissory Notes 
Foreign Government or Corporate Medium Term Notes (MTN’s)
United States Medium Term Notes (MTN’s)
Cashing negotiable instruments 
The Money Market
Books on Financial Instruments