U.S. long-term securities issuance surged in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017, the U.S. Securities and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) said on Wednesday.

The financial industry trade group reports that long-term securities issuance totalled US$1.9 trillion in Q1, which is up by 18.7% from the previous quarter, and 13.1% higher than the same quarter in 2016. Issuance increased in most asset classes, except for municipal, mortgage-related and asset-backed securities, SIFMA says.

Corporate bond issuance amounted to US$468.7 billion in Q1, which was up 79.0% from the fourth quarter of 2016, and up 17.9% from Q1 2016.

Equity underwriting increased by 23.4% to US$57.7 billion in Q1 from US$46.8 billion in Q4, SIFMA says. This was also up by 29.4% from Q1 2016. Of the total equity issuance, initial public offerings totalled US$10.7 billion, up from US$4.4 billion in Q4, and just US$1.2 billion in Q1 2016.