The Central Banks are singing Pump up the volume!
Three of the world’s five major central banks moved to lower borrowing costs Thursday, underlining both the fragile state of the global economic recovery and policy makers’ resolve to block a slide back into recession.
In separate decisions that were announced within the span of less than an hour, the People’s Bank of China and the European Central bank cut their benchmark interest rates, and the Bank of England pumped up its bond buying program.
It didn’t do the European market much good:
The euro sank to a one-month low as Spanish and Italian bonds plunged after the European Central Bank disappointed investors anticipating a more aggressive effort to fight the debt crisis. U.S. equities fell as investors awaited tomorrow’s jobs report.
The euro tumbled 1.1 percent to $1.2388 at 3:01 p.m. in New York and the Dollar Index surged the most this year.
This might be relevant to good news from Ireland:
Ireland returned to short-term debt markets on Thursday for the first time since before its bailout in November, 2010, paying less for three-month paper than Spain, which has avoided going to international lenders for a full sovereign rescue .
In a tentative first step following a near two-year hiatus, Ireland sold €500-million ($628-million) of Treasury bills at an average yield of 1.8 per cent and said it hoped to return to long-term debt markets with a syndicated issue later this year or early next at a maturity of two years or more.
…
Yields on benchmark Irish 2020 bonds have fallen by almost 100 basis points since the summit and were over 50 basis points lower than their Spanish counterparts at 6.25 per cent after the auction, little changed on the day. (A basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point.)Spain, whose 10-year yields rose sharply on Thursday, sold three-month debt at an average yield of 2.36 per cent last week while Italy had to pay 2.96 per cent to auction six-month paper a day later.
Well, it’s 11:30pm and TMXDataLinx still hasn’t made Last Quotes for July 5 available, so I’m giving up. I’ll add the tables … sometime.
Update, 2012-7-6: Here are the tables, finally:
| 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 | 0.4020 % | 2,307.7 |
| FixedFloater | 4.60 % | 3.98 % | 21,158 | 17.29 | 1 | -0.5294 % | 3,430.1 |
| Floater | 3.15 % | 3.17 % | 73,804 | 19.33 | 3 | 0.4020 % | 2,491.7 |
| OpRet | 4.79 % | 2.99 % | 37,507 | 0.96 | 5 | -0.1539 % | 2,520.8 |
| SplitShare | 5.23 % | -6.01 % | 41,221 | 0.45 | 4 | 0.5705 % | 2,738.8 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.1539 % | 2,305.0 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.38 % | 2.93 % | 82,172 | 0.53 | 27 | 0.0609 % | 2,247.9 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.01 % | 4.97 % | 115,787 | 15.38 | 7 | 0.0588 % | 2,480.7 |
| FixedReset | 5.03 % | 3.02 % | 191,501 | 2.45 | 71 | 0.1182 % | 2,409.2 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.98 % | 3.83 % | 135,254 | 1.79 | 45 | 0.1842 % | 2,327.6 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PR.C | Floater | 1.03 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-07-05 Maturity Price : 16.62 Evaluated at bid price : 16.62 Bid-YTW : 3.17 % |
| MFC.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | 1.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.15 Bid-YTW : 5.56 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| CU.PR.E | Perpetual-Premium | 831,122 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-09-01 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.23 Bid-YTW : 4.81 % |
| CU.PR.A | Perpetual-Premium | 112,070 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2012-08-04 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.16 Bid-YTW : 4.60 % |
| BAM.PF.A | FixedReset | 84,160 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-07-05 Maturity Price : 23.18 Evaluated at bid price : 25.25 Bid-YTW : 4.10 % |
| BMO.PR.O | FixedReset | 52,420 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-05-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.97 Bid-YTW : 2.59 % |
| TD.PR.K | FixedReset | 49,400 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-07-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.72 Bid-YTW : 2.61 % |
| TD.PR.Y | FixedReset | 39,585 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.58 Bid-YTW : 2.94 % |
| There were 17 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| FBS.PR.C | SplitShare | Quote: 10.72 – 11.98 Spot Rate : 1.2600 Average : 0.8981 YTW SCENARIO |
| IAG.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.80 – 26.55 Spot Rate : 0.7500 Average : 0.5858 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | Quote: 20.67 – 21.25 Spot Rate : 0.5800 Average : 0.4247 YTW SCENARIO |
| BNS.PR.P | FixedReset | Quote: 25.25 – 25.54 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.1948 YTW SCENARIO |
| FTS.PR.C | OpRet | Quote: 25.51 – 25.85 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2457 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.F | FixedReset | Quote: 26.16 – 26.50 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2501 YTW SCENARIO |