How to Read the Fed's Commercial Paper Release — Outstanding Amounts, Rates and Issuer Types

As of 25 October 2026 (KST); latest release: Commercial Paper Rates and Outstanding, "Data as of October 22, 2026 Posted October 23, 2026". The page states: "The commercial paper release will usually be posted daily at 1:00 p.m. However, the Federal Reserve Board makes no guarantee regarding the timing of the daily posting." Primary sources: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/cp/ and https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/cp/about.htm^[1]

Comparison basis: seasonally adjusted month-end levels as published to one decimal and not rounded further here; changes are this page's calculations. The release's monthly table covers May to September 2026, so year-ago values are not shown. The About page (last update July 15, 2026) notes: "Revisions to outstandings, based on updated issuer information, are made on a continuous basis without any notification." All three documents are Federal Reserve Board publications and count as one Fed primary source.^[1][2]

In three lines

1. Commercial paper is short-term corporate borrowing with maturities up to 270 days; the Fed's release gives daily rates and weekly and month-end amounts outstanding, from DTCC data.
2. Seasonally adjusted outstanding was $1,435.7 billion at the end of September 2026, $27.1 billion more than at the end of August (calculated), and $1,502.6 billion on Wednesday, October 21.
3. On October 22, 2026 the 30-day rate was 3.95% for AA nonfinancial paper and 4.17% for A2/P2 nonfinancial paper.^[1][2]

Commercial paper. "Commercial paper (CP) consists of short-term, promissory notes issued primarily by corporations. Maturities range up to 270 days but average about 30 days."^[2]

Outstanding amounts (About page, last update July 15, 2026). "Total outstanding is the sum of nonfinancial, financial, asset-backed, and other (unknown) outstandings." "Asset-backed outstanding is no longer a subcategory of financial outstanding." "Data on CP outstanding usually are available as of the close of business each Wednesday and as of the last business day of the month; these data are also posted with a one-day lag." "Seasonally adjusted outstanding levels are calculated using the Bell Labs seasonal adjustment method."^[2]

Rates. In the rate calculation, "the trades represent sales of CP by dealers or direct issuers to investors (that is, the offer side) and are weighted according to the face value of the CP so that larger trades have a greater effect on the resulting index." Accordingly, "the reported interest rates purport to reflect activity in certain segments of the market, but they may not equal interest rates for any specific trade."^[2]

Quoting basis (Technical Q&As, last update May 15, 2017). "The Commercial Paper rates are calculated as annual discount yields." "Yes, CP rates are annualized using the convention of a 360-day year." Also: "Collateralized Commercial Paper is part of the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper category."^[3]

Domestic vs foreign financial issuers. From the end of August to the end of September 2026, seasonally adjusted financial paper from domestic issuers rose $14.6 billion while paper from foreign issuers fell $15.0 billion, leaving total financial paper $0.4 billion lower (this page's calculations).^[1]

Month-end vs weekly. Seasonally adjusted outstanding was $1,435.7 billion at the end of September and $1,502.6 billion on October 21, 2026; between the Wednesdays of October 14 and October 21 it rose $22.7 billion (this page's calculations).^[1]

Seasonally adjusted vs not. At the end of September 2026 total outstanding was $1,435.7 billion seasonally adjusted and $1,411.8 billion not seasonally adjusted, a $23.9 billion difference (this page's calculation).^[1]

Higher-rated vs lower-rated paper. On October 22 the 30-day rate was 3.95% for AA nonfinancial and 4.17% for A2/P2 nonfinancial paper, 0.22 percentage points apart (this page's calculation). The release does not attribute the gap to a particular cause.^[1][2]

Components vs total. At the end of September 2026, nonfinancial ($340.7 billion), financial ($587.0 billion) and asset-backed ($508.0 billion) paper add to the published total of $1,435.7 billion, with the other category at zero; asset-backed paper was about 35.4% of the total (this page's calculation).^[1][2]

Missing rates. Several cells show n.a.; the release explains: "n.a. indicates that trade data was insufficient to support calculation of the particular rate." On October 22 the AA financial series had only the 1-day rate (3.87%).^[1]

Source of the data. The release is "Derived from data supplied by The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation", and the About page notes that the reported rates may not equal the rate on any specific trade.^[1][2]