Last week, J.​P. Morgan'​s "JPM Mid-​Week US Short Duration Update" featured a brief titled, "ABCP outstandings push 20% higher YTD amid increased equity financing demand." The piece explains, "It has been a strong start to the year for the ABCP market, with total outstandings climbing to nearly $​585bn, up almost $​100bn (​20%) year-​to-​date, surpassing the pace of growth over the same period in every year since 2020.... As we have discussed previously, this year'​s growth, like that of the past couple of years, reflects dealers increasingly turning to the ABCP market as an alternative source of financing for both fixed income (​mainly Treasuries) and equity collateral. Recall that certain ABCP structures (​e.​g., independent sponsor programs) can provide banks with off‑​balance‑​sheet solutions/​optimization of funding and potentially favorable accounting treatment by using a conduit to intermediate transactions with a counterparty. In practice, this is typically executed through repo (​an alternative way for the counterparty to finance high‑​quality liquid assets), reverse repo (​asset transfers to the conduit in exchange for short‑​term cash), TRS (​synthetic exposure without owning the asset outright), and securities lending (​securities temporarily move onto the SPE'​s balance sheet when it borrows, or are acquired with ABCP proceeds and lent to the counterparty when it lends)." It continues, "More recently, the upward trend in ABCP outstandings has become even more pronounced as demand for equity financing has accelerated.... The composition of the ABCP market continues to reflect these financing trends. Independent sponsor programs have driven most of …