OSFI has announced:
The Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Julie Dickson, will deliver remarks on the topic of boards and risk governance at the Toronto Board of Trade on Thursday, April 5th.
The Superintendent will address the role of corporate governance in managing risk and elements that make for strong, transparent and accountable boards of directors.
The Superintendent will be available to respond to questions from the news media following her remarks.
I can’t remember anything like this before – it’s a great departure from OSFI’s tradition of secrecy. It could be a major announcement, for all the preciousness of the topic. Who knows? Maybe they will announce that regulated companies can no longer hire senior civil servants within five years of their leaving government service – but knowing OSFI, it’s more likely to be the other way around.
This is the future of retail:
A new front in virtual retailing has emerged on a wall at a busy subway station in downtown Toronto.
An online health and beauty retailer on Monday launched a pop-up store at a key commuter hub that features images of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, rather than the products themselves. Using a smartphone app, shoppers place their orders by scanning quick response codes – QR codes, for short – on pictures of products, which are then shipped, often as quickly as the next day, to customers free of charge.
My quibble is that displaying images only makes it no different from shopping on-line. I think this kind of thing needs samples to look at and touch – and as soon as those store move in, the big box is dead:
After 50 years of putting mom and pops out of business, big-box retail is having a mid-life crisis. A slow economy has hurt same-store sales, narrowing margins at big stores. Meanwhile, consumers, armed with price-comparison technology, are visiting more stores seeking deals or exclusive merchandise rather than making one-stop, fill-the-cart excursions.
It was a good day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums gaining 22bp, FixedResets up 22bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 26bp. The Performance Highlights table is well populated and uniformly positive. Volume was very light.
| 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 | 1.5858 % | 2,437.3 |
| FixedFloater | 4.42 % | 3.83 % | 39,100 | 17.60 | 1 | 2.4286 % | 3,530.7 |
| Floater | 2.96 % | 2.97 % | 45,490 | 19.83 | 3 | 1.5858 % | 2,631.7 |
| OpRet | 4.93 % | 3.60 % | 67,265 | 1.18 | 6 | 0.0645 % | 2,498.5 |
| SplitShare | 5.26 % | -4.12 % | 87,798 | 0.70 | 4 | 0.0298 % | 2,685.6 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0645 % | 2,284.6 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.47 % | 1.79 % | 91,013 | 0.17 | 23 | 0.2197 % | 2,212.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.20 % | 5.26 % | 138,596 | 15.04 | 10 | 0.3961 % | 2,391.3 |
| FixedReset | 5.02 % | 3.01 % | 192,856 | 2.22 | 67 | 0.2177 % | 2,387.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.97 % | 3.93 % | 205,956 | 3.08 | 46 | 0.2575 % | 2,300.9 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | 1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.59 Evaluated at bid price : 25.75 Bid-YTW : 2.92 % |
| BAM.PR.X | FixedReset | 1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.14 Evaluated at bid price : 24.97 Bid-YTW : 3.52 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset | 1.33 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.55 Evaluated at bid price : 25.95 Bid-YTW : 3.11 % |
| BAM.PR.B | Floater | 1.36 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 17.84 Evaluated at bid price : 17.84 Bid-YTW : 2.95 % |
| CIU.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | 1.41 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 24.11 Evaluated at bid price : 24.40 Bid-YTW : 4.75 % |
| BAM.PR.K | Floater | 1.44 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 17.59 Evaluated at bid price : 17.59 Bid-YTW : 3.00 % |
| BAM.PR.C | Floater | 1.95 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 17.74 Evaluated at bid price : 17.74 Bid-YTW : 2.97 % |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | 2.43 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 22.33 Evaluated at bid price : 21.51 Bid-YTW : 3.83 % |
| IGM.PR.B | Perpetual-Premium | 2.81 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-12-31 Maturity Price : 26.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.73 Bid-YTW : 4.43 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| ELF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 426,481 | New issue settled today. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 24.59 Evaluated at bid price : 24.98 Bid-YTW : 5.52 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | 226,100 | Desjardins crossed 24,700 at 25.92, then blocks of 100,000 and 65,000 at 25.95. Nesbitt crossed 20,000 at 25.95. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.53 Evaluated at bid price : 25.93 Bid-YTW : 3.18 % |
| ENB.PR.H | FixedReset | 104,049 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.11 Evaluated at bid price : 25.06 Bid-YTW : 3.62 % |
| BAM.PF.A | FixedReset | 68,160 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.11 Evaluated at bid price : 25.05 Bid-YTW : 4.36 % |
| ENB.PR.F | FixedReset | 59,429 | Scotia crossed 30,000 at 25.40. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.23 Evaluated at bid price : 25.40 Bid-YTW : 3.88 % |
| TRP.PR.B | FixedReset | 56,462 | Desjardins crossed 25,000 at 25.35; Nesbitt crossed 20,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-02 Maturity Price : 23.48 Evaluated at bid price : 25.42 Bid-YTW : 2.77 % |
| There were 14 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| PWF.PR.F | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.07 – 25.40 Spot Rate : 0.3300 Average : 0.1997 YTW SCENARIO |
| CIU.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.40 – 24.74 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2138 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.G | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.03 – 25.34 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.2058 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.J | FixedReset | Quote: 26.21 – 26.50 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.1988 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.65 – 25.85 Spot Rate : 0.2000 Average : 0.1284 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | Quote: 21.51 – 22.00 Spot Rate : 0.4900 Average : 0.4189 YTW SCENARIO |