Looks like the voluntary ha-ha Greek debt swap is done:
Private investors agreed to swap about 85 percent of their Greek government bonds for new securities in the biggest sovereign debt restructuring in history, according to a banker briefed on the results.
…
While Greece would prefer a voluntary deal, the government has said it will use so-called collective action clauses to force holders of Greek-law bonds into the swap if the private sector involvement fell short and it got approval from investors to change the bonds’ terms. The Greek government had said it wanted participation above 90 percent and was seeking a minimum level of 75 percent.“Ideally we get above 90 and it doesn’t need to be done,” said Geoffrey Yu, a currency analyst at UBS AG, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Caroline Hyde yesterday.
Compelling holdouts to take part would likely trigger insurance contracts on the debt known as credit default swaps.
“We don’t see the Greeks failing to get a deal because the risk for everyone involved is just too high,” Tobias Basse, a cross market strategist at Norddeutsche Landesbank, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
An interesting game of Prisoners’ Dilemma! I wonder if the politicians will be able to bear the thought that non-participants will make good profits?
The BoC Rate was left unchanged:
Recent developments suggest that the outlook for the Canadian economy is marginally improved from the January MPR. Although the economy will likely grow faster than forecast in the first quarter due to temporary factors, underlying economic momentum remains around trend, balancing domestic strength and external weakness. Private demand is now expected to be slightly stronger than projected, owing to improved sentiment and highly-supportive financial conditions. Canadian household spending is expected to remain high relative to GDP as households add to their debt burden, which remains the biggest domestic risk. Net exports have been supported by stronger-than-anticipated U.S. activity but are expected to contribute little to growth, reflecting still-moderate foreign demand and ongoing competitiveness challenges, including the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar.
The profile for core and total CPI inflation is somewhat firmer than previously anticipated as a result of reduced economic slack and higher oil prices. After moderating in the second quarter, total inflation is expected, along with core inflation, to be around 2 per cent over the forecast horizon, reflecting the combination of modest growth of labour compensation, an economy operating around its potential over time, and well-anchored inflation expectations.
Reflecting all of these factors, the Bank has decided to maintain the target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent.
The thugs in Ottawa reaffirmed their committment to central planning:
Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt has warded off threatened work stoppages at Air Canada, blocking a strike by ground crew and a lockout of pilots planned for March break.
It was a mild day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums up 4bp, FixedResets gaining 1bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 6bp. There was only one issue in the Performance Highlights table. Volume was extremely low.
| 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 | 0.6722 % | 2,385.5 |
| FixedFloater | 4.49 % | 3.83 % | 41,739 | 17.48 | 1 | 0.4751 % | 3,471.6 |
| Floater | 3.00 % | 3.03 % | 49,781 | 19.58 | 3 | 0.6722 % | 2,575.7 |
| OpRet | 4.90 % | 2.62 % | 52,102 | 1.26 | 6 | -0.2811 % | 2,497.3 |
| SplitShare | 5.27 % | -2.42 % | 85,420 | 0.77 | 4 | -0.0497 % | 2,683.4 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.2811 % | 2,283.5 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.39 % | 0.59 % | 106,375 | 0.09 | 25 | 0.0381 % | 2,218.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.06 % | 5.07 % | 183,635 | 15.29 | 7 | -0.0585 % | 2,432.5 |
| FixedReset | 5.05 % | 2.84 % | 203,329 | 2.29 | 66 | 0.0081 % | 2,386.8 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.93 % | 3.78 % | 219,875 | 2.60 | 46 | 0.0595 % | 2,312.9 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| FTS.PR.E | OpRet | -1.52 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-06-01 Maturity Price : 25.75 Evaluated at bid price : 26.60 Bid-YTW : 2.12 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| CM.PR.J | Deemed-Retractible | 50,300 | Called for redemption. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2012-04-30 Maturity Price : 26.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.21 Bid-YTW : 1.69 % |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | 37,270 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-04-15 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.80 Bid-YTW : 5.21 % |
| RY.PR.Y | FixedReset | 26,265 | Scotia crossed 25,000 at 27.25. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-11-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.27 Bid-YTW : 2.72 % |
| SLF.PR.I | FixedReset | 24,025 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.00 Bid-YTW : 4.17 % |
| BAM.PR.H | OpRet | 22,849 | Called for redemption. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Option Certainty Maturity Date : 2012-04-07 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.33 Bid-YTW : 2.56 % |
| RY.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | 18,501 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2016-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.75 Bid-YTW : 3.75 % |
| There were 13 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| FTS.PR.E | OpRet | Quote: 26.60 – 27.40 Spot Rate : 0.8000 Average : 0.5568 YTW SCENARIO |
| BNS.PR.Q | FixedReset | Quote: 26.04 – 26.37 Spot Rate : 0.3300 Average : 0.2381 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.47 – 25.70 Spot Rate : 0.2300 Average : 0.1424 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.G | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.25 – 25.49 Spot Rate : 0.2400 Average : 0.1573 YTW SCENARIO |
| CM.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.81 – 26.10 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.2103 YTW SCENARIO |
| NA.PR.P | FixedReset | Quote: 27.16 – 27.50 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2605 YTW SCENARIO |