This could get interesting:
Expectations are building that TMX is getting close to unveiling its plans for a network. TMX has acknowledged that microwaves are a priority but so far the company has not given any specifics.
“We do know that microwaves [are] an important opportunity out there and we have to bring that to this marketplace, we’re just trying to figure out how,” TMX chief executive officer Tom Kloet said in a recent interview.
…
The speed advantage of microwaves is significant. Because of that, the owner would be able to charge speed-focused traders a high price for access. That’s especially true if there are only a small number of spots on the microwave network.A microwave link between the TMX Group’s Toronto Stock Exchange data centre in suburban Toronto and the U.S. stock market data centres in New Jersey would be as much as 5 milliseconds faster than a fibre-optic link because microwaves travel more quickly and have a more direct route through the air, ITG Canada estimated in a report earlier this year.
Trial attorney Jim Kidney of the SEC is retiring … but he gave a farewell speech:
The revolving door is a very serious problem. I have had bosses, and bosses of my bosses, whose names we all know, who made little secret that they were here to punch their ticket. They mouthed serious regard for the mission of the Commission, but their actions were tentative and fearful in many instances. You can get back to Wall Street by acting tough, by using the SEC publicity apparatus to promote yourself as tough, and maybe even on a few occasions being tough, if you pick your targets carefully. But don’t appear to fail. Don’t take risks where risk would count. That is not the intended message from the ticket punchers, of course, but it is the one I got on the occasions when I was involved in a high profile case or two. The revolving door doesn’t push the agency’s enforcement envelope very often or very far.
The attitude trickles down the ranks. Combined with the negative views of the civil service promoted by politicians and the beatings we take from the public, it is no surprise that we lose our best and brightest as they see no place to go in the agency and eventually decide they are just going to get their own ticket to a law firm or corporate job punched.
…
Please don’t tell me we account for other factors in our management of cases. We think about them, of course, but we all see cases frequently to which we offer a head scratching response. Really? The SEC spent time and money on that? These cases have no significant impact and the conduct is of minimal or no harm to the investing public. But the investigation has been intense and expensive. Could no one in management exercise judgment and call the investigation to a halt? Of course not! Bringing the case is a stat!The metric [quantity] we have now is built into the soul of the Division. It has to be removed root and branch.
Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg wants to make Jim Kidney a commissioner [link now broken? What’s up with that?]; the speech has attracted some press notice:
The SEC also sued Fabrice Tourre, who was vice president on the team that put together the deal at issue in the SEC case, known as Abacus 2007-AC1. A federal jury found Tourre liable last year, and he was ordered in March to pay $825,000 in penalties and other costs.
Kidney, who was part of the initial team that was building the Goldman Sachs case, pressed his bosses in the enforcement division to go higher up the chain. He later took himself off the team after being given a lesser role, according to people familiar with the matter.
In particular, the people said, Kidney argued that the commission should sue Tourre’s boss, Jonathan Egol. Kidney also wanted to bring a case against Paulson & Co. or some executives at the hedge fund, which helped pick the portfolio of securities that were underlying the Abacus vehicle and then bet against it.
The SEC ultimately decided not to sue Egol, the Paulson firm or any individuals from the hedge fund.
…
While Kidney declined to comment on the Goldman case in particular, much of his role is laid out in a September 2010 report by the agency’s inspector general’s office, which reviewed whether the SEC succumbed to political pressure in bringing the enforcement action. Kidney’s name is blacked out in the report.
He sounds like an honourable man. It seems clear that if there was in fact anything bad about the Abacus deal – Assiduous Readers will remember that I don’t think there was – then Fabrice Tourre should have been only a minor target.
It was a good day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts winning 28bp, FixedResets gaining 8bp and DeemedRetractibles up 21bp. Volatility was minimal. Volume was below average.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0840 % | 2,474.9 |
| FixedFloater | 4.68 % | 4.28 % | 35,908 | 17.72 | 1 | -0.1966 % | 3,628.1 |
| Floater | 2.94 % | 3.05 % | 49,643 | 19.62 | 4 | -0.0840 % | 2,672.3 |
| OpRet | 4.35 % | -7.45 % | 33,031 | 0.15 | 2 | 0.3493 % | 2,699.4 |
| SplitShare | 4.81 % | 4.39 % | 63,403 | 4.26 | 5 | -0.0477 % | 3,086.6 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.3493 % | 2,468.4 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.55 % | -7.54 % | 101,279 | 0.09 | 13 | 0.1090 % | 2,384.0 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.43 % | 5.42 % | 121,699 | 14.61 | 23 | 0.2840 % | 2,479.9 |
| FixedReset | 4.68 % | 3.64 % | 206,009 | 4.20 | 79 | 0.0848 % | 2,528.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.03 % | 1.05 % | 148,469 | 0.14 | 42 | 0.2074 % | 2,487.9 |
| FloatingReset | 2.64 % | 2.41 % | 183,028 | 4.28 | 5 | 0.1919 % | 2,472.7 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PF.C | Perpetual-Discount | 1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 21.02 Evaluated at bid price : 21.02 Bid-YTW : 5.82 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 1.07 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 22.95 Evaluated at bid price : 23.60 Bid-YTW : 3.87 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| ENB.PR.T | FixedReset | 81,610 | RBC crossed 50,000 at 24.32. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 24.29 Bid-YTW : 4.24 % |
| CU.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 68,997 | Nesbitt crossed 60,000 at 23.85. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 21.51 Evaluated at bid price : 21.80 Bid-YTW : 5.21 % |
| CU.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | 67,522 | Nesbitt crossed 60,000 at 21.70. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 23.55 Evaluated at bid price : 23.91 Bid-YTW : 5.17 % |
| BAM.PF.B | FixedReset | 64,568 | Scotia crossed 45,700 at 24.95. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 23.15 Evaluated at bid price : 24.95 Bid-YTW : 4.23 % |
| BAM.PF.E | FixedReset | 61,289 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-08 Maturity Price : 23.02 Evaluated at bid price : 24.75 Bid-YTW : 4.29 % |
| RY.PR.I | FixedReset | 54,614 | RBC crossed 50,000 at 25.60. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.58 Bid-YTW : 3.11 % |
| There were 26 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| GWO.PR.P | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.11 – 25.49 Spot Rate : 0.3800 Average : 0.2418 YTW SCENARIO |
| TD.PR.Y | FixedReset | Quote: 25.28 – 25.58 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.1935 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.40 – 22.70 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2017 YTW SCENARIO |
| FTS.PR.K | FixedReset | Quote: 24.80 – 25.10 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2116 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.H | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.99 – 23.20 Spot Rate : 0.2100 Average : 0.1366 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.H | FixedReset | Quote: 26.14 – 26.35 Spot Rate : 0.2100 Average : 0.1469 YTW SCENARIO |