Fabulous Fab’s trial is progressing … slowly:
U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones today dismissed Tourre’s motion seeking a judgment in the case. He had argued that the SEC can’t sue him over a Goldman Sachs deal involving collateralized debt obligations because the transaction didn’t take place in the U.S.
In the same order, Jones said the SEC can file an amended complaint by Nov. 22.
“Defendant Tourre’s motion for judgment on the pleadings is dismissed without prejudice and with leave to renew after plaintiff has filed its amended complaint,” Jones wrote.
…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that U.S. securities laws don’t apply to claims of foreign buyers of non-U.S. securities on foreign exchanges, lawyers for the Goldman executive director said in a court filing in September. The collateralized debt obligations, known as Abacus, at issue in the SEC’s complaint weren’t listed on any exchange and the sole investor in the notes was a foreign bank that bought them overseas, according to the filing.
Never waste a crisis – even if it wasn’t really a crisis:
In a speech at Notre Dame University, CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said the agency already has the authority to impose limits on how many financial futures contracts any one market player can hold, although he didn’t offer any details on what kind of limits might be appropriate.
“I think we need some sort of boundary on financial futures as well as futures on commodities of finite supply like energy, metals and agriculture,” he said in prepared remarks. “How and what those confines are I don’t know at this time, but it seems only prudent to institute some type of restrictions to ensure we don’t again see another flash crash, or even a miniflash crash.”
…
“I’m talking about sensible, well-calibrated limits to give us a handle on these markets,” he said.He said he would like to see limits imposed on “robotic algo-trading” and “high-frequency trading,” although he noted that “like financial futures, it isn’t clear how it would be best achieved.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, a joint advisory committee to the SEC and CFTC will meet to discuss the flash-crash report and come up with some recommendations. Mr. Gensler previously has outlined some areas he would like to explore, including new obligations for brokers executing algorithms for their clients and greater transparency in the public listing at exchanges of bids and offers.
Hurray! All we have to do is support the regulators and investors will never, ever have to worry about losing money again!
The Lancet has taken a strong stand against candy:
One of the world’s most influential medical journals is accusing UNICEF Canada of selling out its values by allowing candy giant Cadbury to use its logo to sell Halloween candy.
In an editorial published online Saturday, the Lancet slammed UNICEF Canada for accepting $500,000 from Cadbury Adams Canada Inc. over a three-year period for construction of schools in Africa in exchange for allowing the company to plaster the iconic – and valuable – UNICEF logo on millions of product packages a year.
…
UNICEF Canada has made a serious error in judgment by allowing a candy company to use its name to sell high-fat, high-sugar and overall unhealthy products under the guise of raising money for African programs, the editorial states.In Canada, a country with serious health and obesity problems, “encouraging products which are undeniably unhealthy is irresponsible,” the editorial says.
I was about to buy a bag of Cadbury stuff until I saw the logo, at which point I replaced it on the shelf; but that was because UNICEF is a sleazy organization, not because I’m a precious little doorknob. I bought other brands of chocolate instead; for next year I’m considering cigarettes.
The Canadian preferred share market had yet another good day today, wth PerpetualDiscounts gaining 24bp and FixedResets winning 17bp. Volume continued to be quite good.
| 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 | 0.5190 % | 2,196.3 |
| FixedFloater | 5.06 % | 3.64 % | 26,623 | 19.07 | 1 | 0.4673 % | 3,325.5 |
| Floater | 2.71 % | 2.38 % | 56,186 | 21.30 | 4 | 0.5190 % | 2,371.5 |
| OpRet | 4.81 % | 3.36 % | 77,747 | 1.89 | 9 | 0.1582 % | 2,378.5 |
| SplitShare | 5.88 % | -16.99 % | 67,524 | 0.09 | 2 | 0.0000 % | 2,396.2 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.1582 % | 2,174.9 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.66 % | 5.11 % | 153,386 | 3.10 | 24 | -0.1005 % | 2,013.8 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.38 % | 5.41 % | 255,171 | 14.77 | 53 | 0.2364 % | 2,029.2 |
| FixedReset | 5.22 % | 3.00 % | 338,201 | 3.23 | 50 | 0.1700 % | 2,280.4 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| IAG.PR.E | Perpetual-Premium | -2.45 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-01-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.51 Bid-YTW : 5.81 % |
| POW.PR.B | Perpetual-Discount | 1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-11-01 Maturity Price : 24.02 Evaluated at bid price : 24.30 Bid-YTW : 5.54 % |
| BAM.PR.R | FixedReset | 1.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-07-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.30 Bid-YTW : 4.33 % |
| GWO.PR.I | Perpetual-Discount | 1.52 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-11-01 Maturity Price : 21.35 Evaluated at bid price : 21.35 Bid-YTW : 5.34 % |
| IAG.PR.C | FixedReset | 1.73 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-01-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.57 Bid-YTW : 3.05 % |
| GWO.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 2.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-11-01 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 23.10 Bid-YTW : 5.30 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TD.PR.G | FixedReset | 136,639 | TD crossed two blocks of 25,000 each, both at 27.89. Nesbitt crosse blocks of 48,800 and 25,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-05-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.86 Bid-YTW : 2.89 % |
| BNS.PR.P | FixedReset | 132,068 | RBC crossed 97,400 at 26.55; National crossed 25,000 at 26.57. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-05-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.57 Bid-YTW : 2.39 % |
| BAM.PR.T | FixedReset | 107,129 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-11-01 Maturity Price : 22.99 Evaluated at bid price : 24.70 Bid-YTW : 4.24 % |
| RY.PR.R | FixedReset | 106,125 | National crossed 50,000 at 27.63; Nesbitt crossed 50,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-03-26 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.62 Bid-YTW : 2.89 % |
| MFC.PR.A | OpRet | 67,650 | Desjardins bought 36,100 from Nesbitt at 25.50 and crossed 23,600 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Soft Maturity Maturity Date : 2015-12-18 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : 3.83 % |
| TD.PR.M | OpRet | 63,734 | Desjardins crossed 45,000 at 25.80. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-12-01 Maturity Price : 25.75 Evaluated at bid price : 25.80 Bid-YTW : 2.36 % |
| There were 40 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||