PrefBlog

TXPR closed at 609.84, down 0.70% on the day. Volume today was 2.58-million, third-highest of the past 21 trading days.

CPD closed at 12.24, down 0.08% on the day. Volume was 87,630, above the median of the past 21 trading days.

ZPR closed at 10.22 down 0.58% on the day. Volume of 211,150 was below the median of the past 21 trading days.

Five-year Canada yields were down sharply to 3.21% today; the volatility is amazing:

U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels in almost two weeks on Thursday, as data from the euro area stoked worries about a sharp slowdown in the global economy.

Euro zone business growth has slowed significantly this month – and by much more than expected – as consumers concerned about soaring bills opted to stay at home and defer purchases to save money, a survey showed on Thursday.

In London trade, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.087 % , its lowest level in almost two weeks. It was down 6 bps on the day and followed sharp falls in bond yields across the euro area.
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S&P Global’s flash euro zone Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), seen as a good gauge of overall economic health, slumped to 51.9 in June from 54.8 in May, far below the 54.0 predicted in a Reuters poll.
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Since hitting its highest since 2011 early last week, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield has tumbled around 40 bps, highlighting investor uncertainty in the wake of aggressive monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve

There’s a lot of weeping and wailing about how abnormally high interests rates are right now:

Rising rates could bake higher expenses into family finances for years. With a fixed-rate mortgage, you are locking in today’s higher payments in for whatever term you choose. From that perspective, the familiar old five-year fixed rate mortgage doesn’t look great.

Higher mortgage costs also make houses less affordable to buy, which is itself a retirement problem. In no way does a home guarantee a financially secure retirement. But if you do own one, you have a valuable asset to sell in order to free up money for retirement costs like care provided through in-home services or nursing homes.
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A return to normal inflation levels and an interest rate reversal would help avert this crisis, but we have a broader affordability problem to contend with in the form of lifestyle inflation.

I don’t get it. I don’t see anything abnormal at all about GOC-5 yields in the 3.00%-3.50% range when inflation is at 2% (or at least is projected to be there, according to the Canada Break-Even Inflation Rate). What I think is abnormal is fourteen years of ridiculously low yields, negative real yields, even negative NOMINAL yields, for heavens sake. Hell, it used to be that a negative yield on US Treasury Bills was breathlessly mentioned in textbooks as a gross aberation that only existed fleetingly due to special conditions in the Great Depression. And after reading this factoid, you checked it with a puzzled frown. Now, not so much.

TXPR closed at 614.13, down 0.80% on the day. Volume today was 2.06-million, well above the median of the past 21 trading days.

CPD closed at 12.25, down 1.05% on the day. Volume was 50,219, well below the median of the past 21 trading days.

ZPR closed at 10.28 down 0.77% on the day. Volume of 149,563 was below the median of the past 21 trading days.

Five-year Canada yields were up to 3.33% today.

Sorry that this is late: I had other things to do last night.

So, how about that Canadian inflation, eh?:

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 7.7 per cent in May from a year earlier, rising from April’s 6.8-per-cent pace, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. It was the highest inflation rate since 1983 and part of a broader surge in prices that’s taken hold in advanced economies.

The recent jump in energy prices, stoked by the Russia-Ukraine war, is having a tangible effect on the numbers. Gasoline prices rose 12 per cent in May alone and were up 48 per cent from a year earlier; the national average price for regular unleaded remains north of $2 a litre.

So there’s another crypto company in trouble:

TSX-listed Voyager Digital Ltd.’s VOYG-T stock lost half its value in a single day after management warned of a potential default on a US$655-million loan to a troubled hedge fund, as investors continue to fear financial contagion owing to the crypto sector’s recent crash.

Voyager, which went public in Canada in 2019, was historically known for its trading venue that allows retail and institutional investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Lately, however, the company has expanded its operations, and one of its newer divisions offers loans to institutional borrowers. At the end of March, Voyager had lent $2-billion worth of crypto assets, according to its quarterly filings.

On Wednesday, Voyager disclosed that it has lent US$655-million to Three Arrows Capital, a hedge fund known for trading cryptocurrencies, in the form of 15,250 bitcoin and US$350-million worth of USDC, another cryptocurrency.

According to their latest financials (SEDAR Voyager Digital Ltd. May 16 2022 07:30:45 ET Interim financial statements/report – EnglishPDF 606 K) they have loaned $2-billion in crypto while holding $227-million collateral. Sounds like the sooner these guys go bankrupt, the better.

Westjet’s unique take on planning has given me an idea for a new business:

On Wednesday, WestJet’s vice-president of government relations, Andrew Gibbons, said the airline is “disappointed” that the new rule unfairly makes it the “sole provider of reimbursement” for delays it cannot control. He said the airline relies on government agencies, NAV Canada, Canada Border Services Agency and Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to provide a seamless experience for travelers. These are the agencies that are understaffed and blamed for much of the delays at airports, particularly Toronto Pearson.

My idea is to offer valet parking at municipal lots downtown during sports events and other times of high demand; I figure I should be able to sell at least 5,000 tickets on busy days. Customers will not, of course, be refunded if I cannot actually park the cars due to the small number of such spots actually available; capacity is the government’s problem and I rely on them to provide a seamless experience for my customers.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 6.14%, equivalent to 7.98% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield 5.37%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) has narrow sharply to 260bp from the 285bp reported June 15.

Oh, what a wicked world this is!

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Haverford, PA-based Egan-Jones Ratings Company, a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) registered with the Commission in certain ratings classes, with violating conflict of interest provisions. The SEC also charged the company’s founder and chief executive officer, Sean Egan, with causing certain of those violations.

The SEC’s order finds that, in 2019, Egan, who at the time headed Egan-Jones’s ratings group, became involved in business and marketing activities concerning a client and was influenced by sales and marketing considerations while participating in determining a credit rating for that client, which created a prohibited conflict of interest. The order finds that by issuing and maintaining a rating for the client under those circumstances, Egan-Jones violated the SEC’s NRSRO conflict of interest rules and, further, that Egan caused the company’s violations.

Egan-Jones is an investor-pay Credit Rating Agency; you know, those guys who are ever so much more ethical than the issuer-pay crowd.

Sorry this is so late!