The Old Boys Club is making good progress in the war against innovation:
Federal agents are investigating whether high-frequency trading firms break U.S. laws by acting on nonpublic information to gain an edge over competitors.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry stems from a multiyear crackdown on insider trading, which has led to at least 79 convictions of hedge-fund traders and others. Agents are examining, for example, whether traders abuse information to act ahead of orders by institutional investors, according to an FBI spokesman. Even trades based on computer algorithms could amount to wire fraud, securities fraud or insider trading.
It is, of course, simply a politically motivated fishing expedition:
Federal agents are making an unusual public plea for the financial industry to bare its secrets.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has openly solicited traders and stock-exchange workers to blow the whistle on possible front-running and manipulation via high-speed computers.
Even so, they’re losing the war:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is seeking a buyer for its New York Stock Exchange designated market-making business acquired through the 2000 purchase of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, a person briefed on the matter said.
…
The NYSE, purchased in November by Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc., relies on traders known as designated market markers, or DMMs, to facilitate buying and selling. The firms help run the opening and closing auctions of NYSE-listed stocks.They used to be known as specialists, and there were dozens of them. Reduced profits from equity trading dwindled their ranks during the past decade. London-based Barclays Plc (BARC) and Jersey City, New Jersey-based KCG Holdings Inc. are the biggest DMMs, followed by Goldman Sachs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
…
Even if Goldman Sachs gives up its spot on the NYSE floor in Manhattan, that doesn’t mean it will stop making markets in U.S. stocks. Almost all American equity trading is done electronically, and banks are among those that provide liquidity on computerized platforms such as NYSE Arca, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the four exchanges owned by Bats Global Markets Inc. Goldman Sachs is among the owners of Bats.
It’s always nice to see market timers get their comeuppance:
Lenders from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Bank of America Corp. warned that corporate-bond buyers were in for another year of rising yields that would erode returns. China, the polar vortex and Vladimir Putin are upending those forecasts.
Bonds of companies worldwide tracked by Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes returned 2.7 percent in the first quarter through March 31, compared with a 1.42 percent gain for the MSCI World Index of stocks, the first time the debt beat equities since the second quarter of 2012. The gain follows a 1.45 percent loss for debt investors last year as shareholders reaped a 27 percent windfall.
“It wasn’t perhaps the one-way bet that people thought it was,” said Andrew Chorlton, a New York-based money manager for a Schroders Plc unit that oversees more than $90 billion. Bonds beating stocks is “contrary to what virtually every investment bank you care to mention had on their outlooks for 2014.”
The Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Social Policy has released its report titled DILUTED CHEMOTHERAPY DRUGS, regarding the screw-up with cancer drug concentrations discussed on PrefBlog on August 8, 2013:
The Standing Committee notes that it was also the [Medbuy] pharmacy committee that failed to notice the contract’s lack of clarity with respect to the need for concentration-specific formats for gemcitabine and cyclophosphamide.
…
Although appreciative of what was provided, the Committee remains concerned about the lack of transparency with respect to the receipt of rebates and how they are used, by hospitals and by Medbuy alike. Large amounts of public money are involved in these transactions, all of which are conducted without public oversight.
…
Contrary to what the Committee had heard, value-adds were included in Medbuy’s 2011 RFP. They were not a mandatory requirement but were encouraged and included in the score. Like Marchese, Baxter chose to participate in Schedule B; Gentès & Bolduc did not.
…
The Committee believes the above responses were inappropriate and are evidence of a lack of due diligence on the part of health care professionals. It sees these communications as more missed opportunities to catch the need for concentration-specific admixtures and avoid the circumstances of March 20, 2013 and their negative impact on 1,202 patients.
But all of this is simply the lead-up to what I’ve been saying all along:
Committee members are perplexed by the fact that pharmacists and pharmacy assistants/technicians at WRH, LHSC, and Lakeridge Health failed to notice the inconsistencies discovered by the staff at PRHC when preparing for the initial use of MHS gemcitabine.
The Committee is concerned about the professional conduct of pharmacists connected to this incident, including those employed by Medbuy and sitting on its pharmacy committee. This concern is so significant that the Committee has written to the Registrar of the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) requesting an investigation. Copies of letters sent by the Committee to the OCP are found in Appendix D.
…
[extract from Appendix D] During the hearings the Committee heard testimony from a number of Pharmacists from Marchese Health Care, Medbuy Corporation and the purchasing hospitals involved. The Committee is concerned that the diluted chemotherapy treatments went unnoticed by all of the pharmacists directly involved, for an extended period of time (February 2012-March 2013) without one of them bringing the matter forward.
The Committee has asked me to bring this to the attention of the Ontario College of Pharmacists and for you to launch an investigation.
The more I learn about health care in Ontari-ari-ari-o, the more amazed I am that so many of us remain alive.
The Canadian preferred share market opened the new quarter with mixed performance, with PerpetualDiscounts gaining 12bp, FixedResets off 2bp and DeemedRetractibles up 14bp. There was a full contingent of Floaters but not much else in the Performance Highlights table, which is notable for being comprised entirely of winners. Volume was slightly below 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 | 1.1674 % | 2,462.8 |
| FixedFloater | 4.70 % | 4.30 % | 36,847 | 17.71 | 1 | -0.3941 % | 3,612.1 |
| Floater | 2.96 % | 3.04 % | 49,899 | 19.60 | 4 | 1.1674 % | 2,659.2 |
| OpRet | 4.65 % | -0.58 % | 96,189 | 0.22 | 3 | 0.0129 % | 2,688.6 |
| SplitShare | 4.81 % | 4.18 % | 63,936 | 4.28 | 5 | 0.1113 % | 3,088.6 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0129 % | 2,458.5 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.55 % | -5.19 % | 105,774 | 0.09 | 13 | 0.0848 % | 2,369.7 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.46 % | 5.50 % | 120,155 | 14.57 | 23 | 0.1246 % | 2,460.1 |
| FixedReset | 4.70 % | 3.72 % | 220,490 | 4.41 | 79 | -0.0174 % | 2,517.2 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.05 % | 1.83 % | 154,239 | 0.16 | 42 | 0.1396 % | 2,477.3 |
| FloatingReset | 2.63 % | 2.62 % | 191,003 | 7.04 | 5 | -0.0481 % | 2,452.8 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| MFC.PR.B | Deemed-Retractible | 1.04 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.33 Bid-YTW : 6.06 % |
| BAM.PR.B | Floater | 1.24 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-01 Maturity Price : 17.19 Evaluated at bid price : 17.19 Bid-YTW : 3.05 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 1.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-01 Maturity Price : 19.50 Evaluated at bid price : 19.50 Bid-YTW : 2.71 % |
| ELF.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 1.29 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-01 Maturity Price : 23.31 Evaluated at bid price : 23.59 Bid-YTW : 5.62 % |
| BAM.PR.C | Floater | 1.35 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-01 Maturity Price : 17.23 Evaluated at bid price : 17.23 Bid-YTW : 3.04 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| TD.PR.P | Deemed-Retractible | 109,779 | Scotia crossed blocks of 52,000 and 55,000, both at 26.19. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-05-01 Maturity Price : 25.75 Evaluated at bid price : 26.20 Bid-YTW : -5.44 % |
| RY.PR.Z | FixedReset | 87,025 | Scotia crossed blocks of 25,000 and 50,000, both at 25.51. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-05-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.51 Bid-YTW : 3.72 % |
| TD.PR.E | FixedReset | 77,835 | Scotia crossed 72,600 at 25.37. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-05-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.36 Bid-YTW : 3.67 % |
| BNS.PR.X | FixedReset | 61,806 | Scotia crossed 58,100 at 24.97. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-05-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.97 Bid-YTW : 3.73 % |
| NA.PR.S | FixedReset | 59,351 | TD crossed 25,000 at 25.38. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-05-15 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.37 Bid-YTW : 3.92 % |
| W.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 57,097 | RBC crossed blocks of 26,900 and 27,100, both at 24.65. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-04-01 Maturity Price : 24.29 Evaluated at bid price : 24.60 Bid-YTW : 5.60 % |
| There were 27 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| GWO.PR.P | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.01 – 25.42 Spot Rate : 0.4100 Average : 0.2444 YTW SCENARIO |
| ENB.PR.J | FixedReset | Quote: 25.07 – 25.34 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.1736 YTW SCENARIO |
| CIU.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 21.32 – 21.68 Spot Rate : 0.3600 Average : 0.2848 YTW SCENARIO |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | Quote: 21.59 – 21.89 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2286 YTW SCENARIO |
| VNR.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 25.30 – 25.54 Spot Rate : 0.2400 Average : 0.1718 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.R | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 22.71 – 22.98 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.2079 YTW SCENARIO |