There is confusion at the Bank of England:
The Bank of England suspended a member of staff as it conducts a probe into allegations that officials condoned practices behind the currency-manipulation scandal.
While the BOE said it has found no evidence to date of collusion, it requires staff “to follow rigorous internal control processes and has today suspended a member of staff, pending investigation.” No decision has been taken on disciplinary action against any employees, it said.
Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 7 that senior currency dealers at banks including Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG told BOE officials at an April 2012 meeting that they discussed positions ahead of key benchmarks and matched buyers and sellers ahead of the fix to avoid trading then. Central bank representatives said they viewed the practices as positive to reduce market volatility and banks should formulate their own policies, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The Bank of Canada claims our economy’s not getting any worse:
In Canada, economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 was slightly stronger than the Bank anticipated, and upward revisions earlier in the year further raised the level of GDP. The Bank still expects underlying growth of around 2 1/2 per cent in 2014, with the current quarter likely to be softer. Exports have been a little stronger than previously thought but continue to underperform, and overall business investment has yet to pick up. Meanwhile, recent data support the Bank’s expectation of a soft landing in the housing market and stabilizing debt-to-income ratios for households.
On the whole, the fundamental drivers of growth and inflation in Canada continue to strengthen gradually, as anticipated. With inflation expected to be well below target for some time, the downside risks to inflation remain important. At the same time, the risks associated with elevated household imbalances have not materially changed. The Bank judges that the balance of risks remains within the zone for which the current stance of monetary policy is appropriate and therefore has decided to maintain the target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The timing and direction of the next change to the policy rate will depend on how new information influences this balance of risks.
If there’s one thing welfare bums hate, it’s answering questions:
Chrysler Group LLC walked away from talks with the federal and Ontario governments after they asked how much of its proposed $3.6-billion investment would be spent in Ontario – a request that was likely to draw out negotiations and delay the company’s effort to bring a new minivan to market.
The federal government and the province sent Chrysler a joint letter and term sheets that offered to put up money as a percentage of the investment the company would be spending in Ontario, a source with knowledge of the talks said.
But those terms didn’t appear to sit well with Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne.
It was a modestly positive day for the Canadian preferred shares market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 4bp, FixedResets gaining 1bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 5bp. Volatility was very low. Volume was average.
PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.53%, equivalent to 7.19% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield about 4.5%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 270bp, unchanged from the February 26 report.
| 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 | 0.4579 % | 2,419.6 |
| FixedFloater | 4.58 % | 3.85 % | 27,855 | 17.70 | 1 | 1.0234 % | 3,703.2 |
| Floater | 2.99 % | 3.14 % | 54,653 | 19.31 | 4 | 0.4579 % | 2,612.5 |
| OpRet | 4.62 % | -0.66 % | 67,889 | 0.24 | 3 | 0.0257 % | 2,692.2 |
| SplitShare | 4.85 % | 4.54 % | 54,288 | 4.34 | 5 | 0.0482 % | 3,051.9 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0257 % | 2,461.7 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.63 % | -0.94 % | 94,015 | 0.09 | 12 | 0.0230 % | 2,349.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.49 % | 5.53 % | 137,568 | 14.57 | 26 | 0.0352 % | 2,417.5 |
| FixedReset | 4.71 % | 3.53 % | 229,591 | 6.80 | 77 | 0.0084 % | 2,505.0 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.08 % | 3.28 % | 167,171 | 0.39 | 42 | 0.0484 % | 2,457.8 |
| FloatingReset | 2.59 % | 2.58 % | 192,174 | 7.13 | 5 | 0.0402 % | 2,442.3 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | 1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-03-05 Maturity Price : 21.46 Evaluated at bid price : 20.73 Bid-YTW : 3.85 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TD.PR.G | FixedReset | 193,168 | Nesbitt crossed 100,000 at 25.31; RBC crossed 50,000 and TD crossed 35,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-04-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.31 Bid-YTW : 1.72 % |
| BNS.PR.Z | FixedReset | 89,977 | TD crossed 75,000 at 23.80. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.76 Bid-YTW : 3.96 % |
| TD.PR.E | FixedReset | 82,735 | RBC crossed 50,000 at 25.31; Scotia crossed 32,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-04-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.33 Bid-YTW : 1.20 % |
| BNS.PR.Y | FixedReset | 80,616 | TD crossed 75,000 at 23.85. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.77 Bid-YTW : 3.60 % |
| TRP.PR.D | FixedReset | 67,153 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-03-05 Maturity Price : 23.14 Evaluated at bid price : 24.98 Bid-YTW : 3.91 % |
| MFC.PR.L | FixedReset | 63,750 | recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.30 Bid-YTW : 4.19 % |
| There were 33 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| TD.PR.Q | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 26.21 – 26.48 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.1561 YTW SCENARIO |
| MFC.PR.A | OpRet | Quote: 25.53 – 25.74 Spot Rate : 0.2100 Average : 0.1274 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | Quote: 19.70 – 20.15 Spot Rate : 0.4500 Average : 0.3889 YTW SCENARIO |
| ELF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.00 – 24.20 Spot Rate : 0.2000 Average : 0.1399 YTW SCENARIO |
| CU.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 25.43 – 25.70 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.2100 YTW SCENARIO |
| CGI.PR.D | SplitShare | Quote: 24.67 – 24.99 Spot Rate : 0.3200 Average : 0.2671 YTW SCENARIO |