The FDIC is looking for comments:
The FDIC and the other federal banking agencies are requesting comment on alternative standards of creditworthiness to replace the use of credit ratings in the risk-based capital requirements. The comment period for the attached Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) will be 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
They’ll get a lot of comments … but I don’t know how many useful ones!
Fans of Judge Jed Rakoff can add another bubble-gum card to their collection – Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle:
A federal judge refused to approve the Securities and Exchange Commission’s $75 million settlement with Citigroup Inc. over the bank’s disclosure of subprime-mortgage problems, saying she is “baffled” by the proposed pact.
The move by U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle represents another challenge for the SEC as it tries to punish financial institutions blamed for the financial crisis.
Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said she didn’t have “sufficient information.”
The judge, striking a frustrated tone, fired several questions at the SEC, among them why it pursued only two individuals in the case and why Citigroup shareholders should have to pay for the alleged sins of bank executives.
“I look at this and say, ‘Why would I find this fair and reasonable?'” the judge told both sides at a 90-minute hearing. “You expect the court to rubber-stamp, but we can’t.”
Part of freedom is an independent judiciary – which is why politicians and bureaucrats avoid them whenever possible.
New York Congressman Peter King stated on the weekend that he agrees with Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, other Republicans and Al-Qaeda that there is some kind of religious war going on:
“President Obama is wrong,” said King in an e-mailed statement. “The right and moral thing for President Obama to have done was to urge Muslim leaders to respect the families of those who died and move their mosque away from Ground Zero.”
I hadn’t realized there was a religious crusade going on; I thought it was simply some harrassment of the civilized world by a rag-tag pack of psychopaths. But it’s nice to see the US Republicans agree with Al-Qaeda on something; it gives hope for the brotherhood of man.
There was good volume in the Canadian preferred share market today as PerpetualDiscounts gained 9bp and FixedResets were up 9bp. The win by FixedResets took their median weighted average yield down to 3.318%, just a hair off the all-time low of 3.314% set on March 26.
MFC was again prominent on the highlight reel.
| 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 | 0.0000 % | 2,054.7 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0000 % | 3,112.6 |
| Floater | 2.55 % | 2.16 % | 38,454 | 21.97 | 4 | 0.0000 % | 2,218.5 |
| OpRet | 4.90 % | -1.56 % | 99,153 | 0.20 | 9 | -0.3000 % | 2,352.1 |
| SplitShare | 6.05 % | -2.62 % | 64,157 | 0.08 | 2 | 0.2299 % | 2,293.5 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3000 % | 2,150.8 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.81 % | 5.55 % | 93,684 | 5.65 | 7 | -0.1301 % | 1,947.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.78 % | 5.83 % | 180,241 | 14.07 | 71 | 0.0865 % | 1,875.4 |
| FixedReset | 5.30 % | 3.32 % | 272,788 | 3.39 | 47 | 0.0921 % | 2,239.9 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| MFC.PR.D | FixedReset | -1.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-07-19 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.91 Bid-YTW : 4.34 % |
| MFC.PR.A | OpRet | -1.18 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Soft Maturity Maturity Date : 2015-12-18 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.03 Bid-YTW : 4.02 % |
| RY.PR.T | FixedReset | 1.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-09-23 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.84 Bid-YTW : 3.26 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 155,470 | RBC crossed blocks of 100,000 and 40,000 at 26.05. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2015-01-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.02 Bid-YTW : 3.76 % |
| MFC.PR.B | Perpetual-Discount | 85,589 | Nesbitt crossed blocks of 20,000 and 40,000 at 18.80. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-08-16 Maturity Price : 18.70 Evaluated at bid price : 18.70 Bid-YTW : 6.22 % |
| TD.PR.R | Perpetual-Discount | 60,830 | Desjardins crossed 15,400 at 24.75; CIBC bought 13,000 from National at 24.78. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-08-16 Maturity Price : 24.52 Evaluated at bid price : 24.75 Bid-YTW : 5.70 % |
| TRP.PR.C | FixedReset | 55,030 | RBC crossed 49,100 at 25.35. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-08-16 Maturity Price : 23.22 Evaluated at bid price : 25.30 Bid-YTW : 3.74 % |
| GWO.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 54,800 | Desjardins crossed 25,000 at 20.85; Nesbitt crossed 25,000 at 20.86. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-08-16 Maturity Price : 20.85 Evaluated at bid price : 20.85 Bid-YTW : 5.91 % |
| TRP.PR.B | FixedReset | 39,241 | Nesbitt crossed 25,000 at 25.05. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-08-16 Maturity Price : 24.97 Evaluated at bid price : 25.02 Bid-YTW : 3.62 % |
| There were 35 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||