PrefBlog

The OSC has approved a new investment platform. As one might expect when government agencies agree on something really, really good, it’s over-regulated, vomit-inducingly precious and has little to do with either innovation or capital-raising:

The portal is called MaRS VX, and it works like an online dating site, matching as it does investors with companies in Ontario that meet MaRS’s financial, social-impact and governance standards. The platform caters to both for- and non-profit organizations tackling problems such as climate change, persons with disabilities or poverty. Issuers must also have less than $25-million in revenue.
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Joining the program is free to investors once they are verified by MaRS as “patient capitalists” with an interest in having an impact as well as the potential for financial return. Companies pay a fee that covers some of MaRS’s costs.

Once issuers secure investments, they’re required to report biannually to investors on their finances and their impact, said Mr. Spence. “Having that kind of ongoing reporting requirement means these folks are engaged in good governance practices and using their money for the purposes indicated.”

Should a company require more financing for additional projects, they must reapply and undergo another review.

A day of thrills and chills!

Gold futures sank to $1,283.50 an ounce, after tumbling 6.4 percent yesterday. Holdings (GDTRGOLD) in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest exchange-traded product backed by bullion, fell below 1,000 metric tons for the first time in four years.
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The S&P 500 (SPX) extended June 19’s 1.4 percent slump and fell to the lowest level since May 1 as all 10 of its main industry groups retreated at least 2.2 percent. The benchmark index extended its decline from its last record reached May 21 to 4.9 percent, trimming its 2013 advance to 11 percent and its rally from its bear-market low in 2009 to 135 percent.
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The stock sell off pushed the MSCI all-country gauge down more than 7 percent from a five-year high reached May 21, the day before Bernanke raised the possibility of reducing stimulus should U.S. economic indicators improve. About $2.4 trillion was erased from global equity values over that stretch, with indexes in Hong Kong and Japan sliding more than 20 percent into bear markets.
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Yields on 10-year Treasuries touched 2.47 percent, the highest level since August 2011, before closing six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, higher at 2.42 percent. Thirty-year U.S. bond yields jumped 11 basis points to 3.52 percent, the highest level since August 2011, and two-year rates increased two basis points to 0.33 percent.
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The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade Index, a credit-default swaps benchmark that investors use to hedge against losses or to speculate on creditworthiness, increased 5.7 basis points to a mid-price of 91.4 basis points in New York, after climbing 3.9 basis points June 19, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the biggest two-day jump on a closing basis since the measure rose 8.8 in the period ended May 14, 2012, excluding rolls into new series of the benchmark.

I have the feeling that tomorrow’s going to be a long day.

As for today, there was total carnage on the Canadian preferred share market with PerpetualPremiums down 176bp, FixedResets off 59bp and DeemedRetractibles losing 194bp. As might well be expected, the Performance Highlights table is ridiculously long. Volume was enormous. Super-colossal. Gigantic. Brobdingnagian.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Market Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.