There’s some jostling over the YLO reorg:
Law firm McMillan, counsel for the company’s lenders, said Wednesday the lenders, who weren’t specified, are owed a principal amount of $369-million by Yellow Media as of Sept. 28, 2011.
…
“The company put forward the proposed CBCA plan without notice to or prior consultation with the lenders or most of its other stakeholders,” McMillan said in a news release.“The lenders have invited the company to withdraw the proposed CBCA plan forthwith and to engage in a more open and transparent consultation process with its stakeholders to see if an acceptable plan can be achieved.”
The lenders intend to bring a motion on Aug. 6 to protect their legal rights in the reorganization proceeding initiated by Yellow Media under the CBCA.
Goldman Sachs has developed a new kind of investment:
Under the Goldman Sachs-funded initiative, inmates aged 16 to 18 will receive education, training and counseling intended to reduce the likelihood of them reoffending after their release.
…
City officials said Goldman would provide a $9.6-million loan to pay for the program at the Rikers Island jail complex. If recidivism drops by 10 per cent, the firm will get back the $9.6-million. If it drops even more, Goldman could make as much as $2.1-million in profit. If recidivism doesn’t drop by at least 10 percent, Goldman will lose as much as $2.4-million.Nearly half of the adolescents who leave city jails currently return within one year.
Social impact bonds, also called pay-for-success bonds, were first used in Britain and are being explored in Australia and in the U.S.
Massachusetts is negotiating with two nonprofit groups to finance juvenile justice and homelessness programs with the promise of repayment only if the programs work.
I don’t know why it’s called a “bond” rather than “an investment in a micro-cap that has a government contract”, but I suppose it helps sell the things.
As of September 28, 2011? That was the date the banks tightened the screws and DBRS slashed the rating. But why it’s being used as a reference date for the challengers’ holdings is something I don’t know.
Knight Capital Group Inc. (KCG) said losses from yesterday’s trading breakdown are $440 million, almost quadruple its 2011 net income and more than some analysts had estimated, and the firm is exploring strategic and financial alternatives. Its stock has lost 66 percent in two days.
Knight said it will continue its trading and market-making today as it considers its options. Yesterday’s issue was related to the installation of trading software and resulted in the company sending “numerous erroneous orders,” the Jersey City, New Jersey-based firm said today. The stock tumbled 50 percent to $3.46 at 9:36 a.m. New York time today.
…
The errors were caused by a malfunction in a trading algorithm, according to a person at Knight who asked to remain anonymous because the matter hasn’t been publicized.
Apparently there’s some regulatory concern over the problem:
Yesterday’s problem shows regulation is “broken” and a study group should be convened to review technology and market structure, Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in an interview. Regulators would have been able to stop incidents such as yesterday’s breakdown if they didn’t face a lack of resources, he said.
“The ability of regulators to do their job has never been weaker than it is today because of the failure of the oversight process,” Levitt, 81, said today in an interview. “Congress has a greater responsibility for what we’re seeing today than any regulator or any particular part of the industry. They’ve allowed this to happen.”
Kevin Callahan, a spokesman with the SEC, said in an e-mail that regulators are “closely monitoring the situation and in continuous contact with the NYSE and other market participants.”
I don’t understand this. A poorly-run company gave a $440-million gift to investors. Why is this a problem?
In related news, a bug was discovered at Hymas Investment Management today:
Click for big
Company officials were quoted as saying “Now stop screwing around and do some damn work.”
ING Bank Canada is for sale:
The sale process for ING Bank Canada has already kicked into high gear, and rival Canadian banks are heavily interested in scooping up their online-focused competitor.
I understand that central banks are using Google searches as indicators:
The Federal Reserve and the central banks of England, Italy, Spain and Chile have followed up with their own studies to see if search volumes track trends in the economies they oversee.
…
It all started with a hunch in Mountain View, California. On the heels of developing a new website reporting how often users searched for certain keywords, Hal Varian, Google Inc.’s chief economist, said he wondered whether this data could foreshadow what traditional economic reports would show later. So he ran the numbers.“The ‘aha moment’ was, gee, this actually works,” Varian said in an interview.
The result was a 23-page paper he co-wrote in April 2009, demonstrating how data reported on the Google Trends service improved forecasts of auto and home sales and retail spending in the U.S.
If they’re paying attention to my Google searches, banknotes will soon feature “scarlett johansson nude” in place of dead politicians. But other pornography is good too!
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Sorry, folks, the daily report will be delayed.
I have been in Microsoft Version Hell for about ten-and-a-half hours now … and ain’t nuthin’ workin’.
Update, 2012-8-3: 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 | -0.1408 % | 2,292.9 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.1408 % | 3,430.0 |
| Floater | 3.17 % | 3.20 % | 65,611 | 19.21 | 3 | -0.1408 % | 2,475.7 |
| OpRet | 4.76 % | 2.40 % | 34,108 | 0.89 | 5 | -0.0306 % | 2,535.9 |
| SplitShare | 5.47 % | 4.87 % | 65,593 | 4.66 | 3 | 0.0799 % | 2,767.1 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0306 % | 2,318.9 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.30 % | 3.92 % | 103,946 | 1.16 | 28 | 0.0821 % | 2,273.2 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 4.97 % | 4.93 % | 103,855 | 15.56 | 3 | 0.2239 % | 2,514.5 |
| FixedReset | 4.99 % | 3.05 % | 181,877 | 3.95 | 71 | -0.0656 % | 2,422.9 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.95 % | 2.96 % | 142,532 | 0.80 | 46 | 0.0486 % | 2,352.6 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | -1.34 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-08-02 Maturity Price : 23.53 Evaluated at bid price : 25.80 Bid-YTW : 3.05 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| ENB.PR.N | FixedReset | 121,160 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-08-02 Maturity Price : 23.15 Evaluated at bid price : 25.17 Bid-YTW : 3.84 % |
| BNS.PR.Q | FixedReset | 105,926 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.35 Bid-YTW : 3.14 % |
| IAG.PR.C | FixedReset | 89,180 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.10 Bid-YTW : 3.42 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 57,027 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-08-02 Maturity Price : 23.73 Evaluated at bid price : 25.76 Bid-YTW : 3.18 % |
| BMO.PR.M | FixedReset | 55,401 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : 2.96 % |
| BMO.PR.P | FixedReset | 54,432 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2015-02-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.78 Bid-YTW : 2.40 % |
| There were 20 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| ELF.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.12 – 23.85 Spot Rate : 0.7300 Average : 0.5176 YTW SCENARIO |
| BMO.PR.P | FixedReset | Quote: 26.78 – 27.10 Spot Rate : 0.3200 Average : 0.1878 YTW SCENARIO |
| BNA.PR.E | SplitShare | Quote: 25.20 – 25.50 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.1929 YTW SCENARIO |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 25.80 – 26.25 Spot Rate : 0.4500 Average : 0.3447 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.D | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.10 – 25.51 Spot Rate : 0.4100 Average : 0.3092 YTW SCENARIO |
| W.PR.H | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.76 – 26.19 Spot Rate : 0.4300 Average : 0.3381 YTW SCENARIO |
Soon!