We’re getting a good start on October tapering chatter:
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, a voter on policy this year who has backed record stimulus, said a small tapering of bond buying is possible next month after the Fed made a close call this week in deciding not to slow purchases.
“That was a borderline decision” after “weaker data came in,” Bullard said today on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Sara Eisen. “The committee came down on the side of, ‘Let’s wait.’”
Bullard called October a “live meeting,” because “it’s possible you could get some data that change the complexion of the outlook and could make the committee be comfortable with a small taper in October.”
Meanwhile, political games in Washington may have an effect:
The U.S. House voted to finance the federal government through Dec. 15 and choke off funding for President Barack Obama’s health-care law, setting up what could be a prolonged showdown with the Senate and White House.
House Republicans said they wouldn’t accept Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan to remove the health-care language from the bill next week and warned of a temporary government shutdown after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
“We’ll add some other things that they hate and make them eat that, and we’ll play this game up until either Sept. 30, Oct. 3, somewhere in between,” said freshman Representative Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican. “At that point Harry Reid’s going to realize we’re serious and hopefully at that point, he’ll begin to negotiate with us.”
Inflation continues to be the least of our worries:
Canada’s inflation rate slowed for the first time in four months in August, approaching the bottom of the central bank’s target band, on lower costs for mortgage interest and prescription drugs.
The consumer price index rose 1.1 percent in August from a year ago, following July’s 1.3 percent pace, Statistics Canada said today from Ottawa. The core rate, which excludes eight volatile products, slowed to 1.3 percent from 1.4 percent.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, who sets policy to keep price gains in the middle of a 1 percent to 3 percent range, has said inflation will remain below 2 percent until mid-2015. The central bank’s key lending rate has been 1 percent for three years, the longest pause since the 1950s, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict Poloz won’t raise borrowing costs until the second half of 2014.
I must tell you about my wonderful new flashlight I purchased a few days ago from Baby Point Hardware
Click for big
The light source is a 3×8 grid of halogen lamps; it’s powered by 3 AA batteries. The light is very bright and by itself is reason to be impressed. There’s a magnet on the back – so I’ve got mine stuck to my fridge – and there’s also a plastic fold-out hook (like the hook on a clothes hanger) for hanging it somewhere convenient. What I find very impressive is that the halogen bulbs are recessed behind a cover that has a lens in front of each bulb. When you shine the light at a wall, it doesn’t make a diffuse rectangular pattern as one might expect, it makes a circular pattern just like a regular single-light-source flashlight would. I think this is really great engineering and – best of all – it only cost ten bucks and change!
My only complaint is that there is no manufacturer information on the case – the only clue is a logo for “Lightway”. However logical the name “Lightway” might be for a flashlight, it doesn’t help much with Google searches, which bring up a lot of Christian ministries but not a single flashlight manufacturer.
What a great time to be alive! Even little things like flashlights are being improved out of all recognition!
In markets, Canadian equity volume was huge as some tech firm did what tech firms do best.
It was a mixed day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 24bp, FixedResets off 2bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 2bp. The Performance Highlights table is longer than might be expected, but with mixed contents. Volume was very 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 | 0.0894 % | 2,594.0 |
| FixedFloater | 4.21 % | 3.53 % | 29,924 | 18.25 | 1 | 1.5766 % | 3,941.6 |
| Floater | 2.61 % | 2.86 % | 64,699 | 20.09 | 5 | 0.0894 % | 2,800.8 |
| OpRet | 4.63 % | 2.39 % | 68,254 | 0.52 | 3 | -0.3207 % | 2,634.7 |
| SplitShare | 4.75 % | 4.61 % | 58,475 | 4.07 | 6 | 0.0554 % | 2,947.1 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3207 % | 2,409.2 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.84 % | 5.83 % | 122,767 | 3.73 | 2 | 0.2561 % | 2,269.9 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.55 % | 5.58 % | 138,725 | 14.32 | 36 | 0.2369 % | 2,347.5 |
| FixedReset | 4.92 % | 3.67 % | 239,866 | 3.48 | 85 | -0.0260 % | 2,461.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.13 % | 4.68 % | 196,317 | 6.91 | 43 | 0.0191 % | 2,371.8 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | -1.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 21.16 Evaluated at bid price : 21.16 Bid-YTW : 4.25 % |
| TRI.PR.B | Floater | -1.31 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 22.38 Evaluated at bid price : 22.64 Bid-YTW : 2.28 % |
| IFC.PR.A | FixedReset | -1.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.56 Bid-YTW : 4.63 % |
| MFC.PR.F | FixedReset | -1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.40 Bid-YTW : 4.40 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 23.20 Evaluated at bid price : 23.50 Bid-YTW : 2.22 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | 1.37 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 22.93 Evaluated at bid price : 23.75 Bid-YTW : 4.03 % |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | 1.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 22.81 Evaluated at bid price : 22.55 Bid-YTW : 3.53 % |
| MFC.PR.H | FixedReset | 1.79 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2017-03-19 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.12 Bid-YTW : 3.26 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BNS.PR.Q | FixedReset | 50,841 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.15 Bid-YTW : 3.79 % |
| BAM.PF.D | Perpetual-Discount | 31,500 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-09-20 Maturity Price : 21.38 Evaluated at bid price : 21.38 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| BNS.PR.P | FixedReset | 21,942 | Desjardins bought 19,900 from anonymous at 24.80. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2018-04-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.80 Bid-YTW : 3.66 % |
| CM.PR.L | FixedReset | 21,915 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-04-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.78 Bid-YTW : 2.81 % |
| TD.PR.I | FixedReset | 19,725 | RBC crossed 17,800 at 26.04. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-07-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.99 Bid-YTW : 2.61 % |
| RY.PR.R | FixedReset | 16,588 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : 3.09 % |
| There were 21 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| BNS.PR.N | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.63 – 25.94 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.2265 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRI.PR.B | Floater | Quote: 22.64 – 22.99 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2667 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.A | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.34 – 22.60 Spot Rate : 0.2600 Average : 0.1811 YTW SCENARIO |
| ENB.PR.T | FixedReset | Quote: 23.84 – 24.08 Spot Rate : 0.2400 Average : 0.1713 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PR.J | OpRet | Quote: 26.35 – 26.63 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.2119 YTW SCENARIO |
| ENB.PR.H | FixedReset | Quote: 23.32 – 23.60 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.2163 YTW SCENARIO |
Nice light.
A link for another clone http://www.pocketknives.biz/SinglePocketKnives.asp?ID=1246&Cat=LED%20/%20Flashlights
James, a nit-pick, the bulbs are most likely LED lamps and not halogens. 24 halogens running on 3 AAA’s would last about oh 1/100 second.
cheers
That’s it! That’s it exactly! The manufacturer must white-label it to whoever wants to put branding on a flashlight.
OK, LEDs. Oops! Electricity is not exactly my thing.
I do electronics so I’ll add my two cents. Although, simple lighting like this is barely “electronic”.
There’s been great advances in LED technology since the 70s. White was discovered in the 90s, earlier ones were limited to red, green, yellow/orange, and infrared. The LED “bulb” costs around a few pennies for one. A flashlight like yours, you’re probably paying mostly for the casing.
You might be also interested in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf6_GaXPOEQ
Not too bad for around $20. You can cut those to almost any length you want. They’re generally 12V system, so running it off a car battery is no problem–think boating, RV, etc,.
Although, simple lighting like this is barely “electronic”.
Oh, sure. I was just thinking that if I did do electronics, then I would know instantly whether running 24 halogen bulbs on 3 AAAs was reasonable or not.
You might be also interested in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf6_GaXPOEQ
More cool stuff! Thanks!