There’s a disturbing trend in the States:
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called a news conference today after disclosures that an aide triggered a days-long traffic jam as political revenge, a revelation that threatens his national image and possible 2016 presidential run.
…
Christie aides ordered the shutdown of the Fort Lee approach lanes to the bridge during four days in September to punish a Democratic mayor, according to e-mails obtained yesterday.
…
An outline of the Christie administration’s link to the jams was contained in a cache of e-mails and text messages obtained yesterday by Bloomberg News.“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, wrote to David Wildstein, a high school friend of Christie’s whom the governor appointed to the Port Authority.
“Got it,” Wildstein replied.
From Sept. 9 to 12, delays in crossing the George Washington Bridge that typically last about 30 minutes stretched to 4 hours or more. On the fifth day, officials on the New York side re-opened lanes on what the Port Authority calls the busiest bridge in the world, a key link for U.S. East Coast traffic on Interstate 95.
“We are appropriately going nuts,” Wildstein wrote to Kelly on Sept. 13, as traffic flowed. David Samson, Christie’s appointee as Port Authority chairman, was “helping us to retaliate” for the easing of the vehicular snarls.
This happened slightly prior to deliberate unnecessary inconvenience during the federal shut-down:
President Obama is not a bad poker player, but the man with all the chips always starts with the advantage (and he gets all the aces). He has closed Washington down as tight as he dares, emphasizing the trivial and the petty in making life as inconvenient as he can for the greatest number. It’s all in a noble cause, of course. Access to most of the memorials is limited, and often in curious ways. The Lincoln Memorial is easy to reach, with the streets around it remaining open. But the Martin Luther King Memorial is made difficult to reach, relegating it, you might say, to the back of the bus. Not very nice.
The Park Service appears to be closing streets on mere whim and caprice. The rangers even closed the parking lot at Mount Vernon, where the plantation home of George Washington is a favorite tourist destination. That was after they barred the new World War II Memorial on the Mall to veterans of World War II. But the government does not own Mount Vernon; it is privately owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. The ladies bought it years ago to preserve it as a national memorial. The feds closed access to the parking lots this week, even though the lots are jointly owned with the Mount Vernon ladies. The rangers are from the government, and they’re only here to help.
This willingness to use government services as a political weapon has always been around, of course. But these examples are egregious.
It was a mixed day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 14bp, FixedResets down 6bp and DeemedRetractibles off 3bp. Volatility was average. Volume was average.
| 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 | -0.0556 % | 2,560.5 |
| FixedFloater | 4.41 % | 3.70 % | 34,376 | 17.87 | 1 | 1.4588 % | 3,809.3 |
| Floater | 2.92 % | 2.93 % | 68,391 | 19.93 | 3 | -0.0556 % | 2,764.6 |
| OpRet | 4.63 % | 1.83 % | 78,949 | 0.39 | 3 | 0.0257 % | 2,667.7 |
| SplitShare | 4.85 % | 4.66 % | 69,098 | 4.44 | 5 | 0.1124 % | 3,023.0 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0257 % | 2,439.3 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.63 % | 3.81 % | 128,627 | 0.08 | 13 | 0.0568 % | 2,321.2 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.63 % | 5.64 % | 170,356 | 14.46 | 25 | 0.1396 % | 2,358.5 |
| FixedReset | 4.96 % | 3.46 % | 211,684 | 3.40 | 82 | -0.0569 % | 2,482.5 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.14 % | 4.28 % | 165,740 | 2.01 | 42 | -0.0284 % | 2,405.0 |
| FloatingReset | 2.60 % | 2.33 % | 228,450 | 4.34 | 5 | -0.1426 % | 2,469.8 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| ENB.PR.N | FixedReset | -1.46 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 22.92 Evaluated at bid price : 24.32 Bid-YTW : 4.52 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | -1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 22.42 Evaluated at bid price : 22.82 Bid-YTW : 4.11 % |
| TRP.PR.C | FixedReset | -1.00 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 21.43 Evaluated at bid price : 21.77 Bid-YTW : 4.08 % |
| ELF.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 1.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 21.30 Evaluated at bid price : 21.30 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | 1.46 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 21.89 Evaluated at bid price : 21.56 Bid-YTW : 3.70 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TRP.PR.D | FixedReset | 212,959 | RBC crossed 69,600 at 25.20. TD crossed 99,700 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-04-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.14 Bid-YTW : 3.85 % |
| POW.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | 69,323 | Nesbitt crossed blocks of 23,600 and 25,000, both at 24.37. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 24.16 Evaluated at bid price : 24.41 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| BNS.PR.R | FixedReset | 43,552 | Will reset at 3.83%. Yield to Deemed Maturity is 3.76%. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-02-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.14 Bid-YTW : -1.78 % |
| BAM.PF.D | Perpetual-Discount | 25,837 | RBC bought 10,200 from Scotia at 20.25. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 20.13 Evaluated at bid price : 20.13 Bid-YTW : 6.14 % |
| BNS.PR.M | Deemed-Retractible | 24,416 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.21 Bid-YTW : 4.36 % |
| FTS.PR.G | FixedReset | 23,764 | Nesbitt crossed 18,800 at 24.15. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-01-09 Maturity Price : 22.89 Evaluated at bid price : 24.21 Bid-YTW : 4.11 % |
| There were 34 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| ENB.PR.N | FixedReset | Quote: 24.32 – 24.63 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.1984 YTW SCENARIO |
| GCS.PR.A | SplitShare | Quote: 25.00 – 25.39 Spot Rate : 0.3900 Average : 0.2805 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.R | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.15 – 22.46 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.2122 YTW SCENARIO |
| SLF.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 20.87 – 21.16 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.1936 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.H | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 24.95 – 25.23 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.1922 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.Q | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 23.10 – 23.37 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.1832 YTW SCENARIO |