June 24, 2010

How ’bout them Greek swaps, eh?:

Credit-default swaps on Greece rose 38 basis points to an all-time high of 970 basis points, according to CMA DataVision. Contracts on Portuguese government securities climbed 16 basis points to a two-week high of 336.5, while Spain rose 4 to 269.

The politicians have come up with a solution of how to solve their GSE mess: make the banks pay:

Bank executives were panicking last night over a proposed fix to Title II of financial reform literally penciled in at the last minute. The fear is that that the proposed change to the orderly liquidation authority could leave banks on the hook for a possible wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could cost as much as $400 billion. In the House counter-offer below, Fannie and Freddie are penciled in as falling under the definition of ‘financial company,’ meaning they could be resolved by the orderly liquidation process. This process is paid for by the sale of the failing company’s assets and/or through assessments on other financial companies, possibly putting the Street in line to pay for the liquidation of the troubled housing giants.

Competition between Treasury and the FDIC to deal with private equity purchasers of banks was mentioned on April 30. That trend is continuing:

Buyout firms thwarted by regulators from taking over failed banks have found a solution: Acquire lenders that are still in business.

Moelis Capital Partners LLC, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and the Carlyle Group are among firms that agreed to buy stakes in at least five U.S. banks since April. While most are small, with assets of less than $1 billion, their status as banks means they can buy more distressed lenders that can be merged and sold later — a tactic that made some private-equity investors billionaires in the 1990s.

In at least three cases, the shift in tactics requires approval from the Treasury, which owns stakes in small banks through its injection of U.S. bailout funds. Capital infusions for Pacific Capital, Hampton Roads and Sterling are all contingent on the government writing down its investment.

The Canadian preferred share market continued to move ahead on lower than average volume today, with PerpetualDiscounts and FixedResets both gaining 7bp.

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 2.72 % 2.79 % 31,245 20.49 1 0.0000 % 2,097.6
FixedFloater 5.12 % 3.27 % 21,669 19.86 1 0.4726 % 3,129.0
Floater 2.40 % 2.80 % 78,917 20.24 3 0.7369 % 2,260.5
OpRet 4.86 % 2.47 % 88,391 0.43 11 0.1938 % 2,342.0
SplitShare 6.32 % 6.21 % 95,256 3.49 2 -0.2173 % 2,195.5
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1938 % 2,141.5
Perpetual-Premium 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0739 % 1,912.4
Perpetual-Discount 5.94 % 6.02 % 196,472 13.92 77 0.0739 % 1,810.2
FixedReset 5.42 % 4.03 % 327,124 3.47 45 0.0722 % 2,183.6
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
GWO.PR.M Perpetual-Discount -1.48 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 23.85
Evaluated at bid price : 24.04
Bid-YTW : 6.06 %
TD.PR.C FixedReset -1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-02
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.53
Bid-YTW : 4.07 %
CM.PR.L FixedReset 1.04 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-05-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.40
Bid-YTW : 3.74 %
TRI.PR.B Floater 1.51 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 23.20
Evaluated at bid price : 23.50
Bid-YTW : 1.82 %
POW.PR.A Perpetual-Discount 1.53 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 23.03
Evaluated at bid price : 23.30
Bid-YTW : 6.01 %
BAM.PR.O OpRet 2.06 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Option Certainty
Maturity Date : 2013-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.25
Bid-YTW : 3.24 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
BMO.PR.J Perpetual-Discount 138,025 Desjardins crossed 30,200 at 19.88.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 19.82
Evaluated at bid price : 19.82
Bid-YTW : 5.75 %
TD.PR.O Perpetual-Discount 127,971 Nesbitt crossed 11,000 at 21.25.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 21.30
Evaluated at bid price : 21.30
Bid-YTW : 5.79 %
RY.PR.A Perpetual-Discount 68,060 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2040-06-24
Maturity Price : 19.64
Evaluated at bid price : 19.64
Bid-YTW : 5.74 %
SLF.PR.F FixedReset 55,790 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.85
Bid-YTW : 4.05 %
BMO.PR.O FixedReset 44,752 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-06-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.56
Bid-YTW : 3.93 %
RY.PR.R FixedReset 33,710 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-26
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.19
Bid-YTW : 3.95 %
There were 23 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.

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