Times are tough indeed for the gnomes of Zurich:
Zurich’s red-light district is dimming. Bankers who have been core patrons of the city’s sex industry and cabarets are curbing spending.
The venues of Langstrasse — or long street — are closing, replaced by hipster bars, techno clubs and even a backpackers’ hostel. Like the finance industry, the sex trade has opted for a lower profile.
“Times have changed,” said Kevin Joliat, the manager of the Petit Prince nightclub in central Zurich. “Bankers really have to show who the client was, why they spent the money and was it really necessary,” said Joliat, who once worked at Zuercher Kantonalbank, Switzerland’s largest state-owned bank.
The decline of erotic entertainment highlights a changing culture in Zurich as banking jobs ebb and public opinion turns against inflated bonuses. That and smaller budgets for entertaining customers have deprived the clubs and bars of a key customer base
Meanwhile, the West has a problem:
As Russian-backed separatists advance in southeastern Ukraine, the U.S. and European Union are still searching for a sanction that can force Vladimir Putin to stop and think again.
More than 1,000 of the Russian president’s troops are operating inside Ukraine, manning sophisticated weaponry and advising local separatists, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said yesterday. The escalation, denied by Russia, prompted a warning of “consequences” from U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU leaders would discuss new sanctions this weekend.
The U.S. and EU have been trying since March to come up with measures that would impose sufficient costs to make Putin call off his effort to destabilize eastern Ukraine while causing only minimal harm to Russian citizens and European and U.S. economies and businesses.
Here’s my plan: bar Putin from Disneyland.
The Canadian preferred share market finished the month on a positive note, with PerpetualDiscounts winning 18bp, FixedResets up 12bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 4bp. Volatility was quite good. Volume was quite 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 | 0.7254 % | 2,636.7 |
| FixedFloater | 4.16 % | 3.40 % | 27,886 | 18.57 | 1 | 0.0000 % | 4,173.0 |
| Floater | 2.91 % | 3.07 % | 50,626 | 19.49 | 4 | 0.7254 % | 2,726.5 |
| OpRet | 4.05 % | -2.62 % | 95,556 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.0395 % | 2,729.3 |
| SplitShare | 4.24 % | 3.75 % | 60,337 | 3.96 | 6 | 0.0486 % | 3,151.5 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0395 % | 2,495.6 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.48 % | -3.46 % | 82,812 | 0.08 | 19 | 0.1302 % | 2,440.6 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.20 % | 5.13 % | 114,926 | 15.17 | 17 | 0.1830 % | 2,612.0 |
| FixedReset | 4.23 % | 3.64 % | 185,120 | 6.65 | 74 | 0.1173 % | 2,572.1 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.99 % | 1.04 % | 104,472 | 0.18 | 42 | 0.0380 % | 2,566.9 |
| FloatingReset | 2.63 % | 0.48 % | 80,882 | 0.16 | 6 | -0.0131 % | 2,531.5 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| NA.PR.M | Deemed-Retractible | -1.20 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-09-28 Maturity Price : 25.75 Evaluated at bid price : 26.33 Bid-YTW : -17.77 % |
| BAM.PF.B | FixedReset | -1.18 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 23.26 Evaluated at bid price : 25.20 Bid-YTW : 4.08 % |
| TRP.PR.E | FixedReset | -1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 23.29 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : 3.80 % |
| VNR.PR.A | FixedReset | 1.14 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2017-10-15 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.71 Bid-YTW : 3.58 % |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | 1.24 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 21.15 Evaluated at bid price : 21.15 Bid-YTW : 3.61 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 1.72 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 20.70 Evaluated at bid price : 20.70 Bid-YTW : 2.55 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 2.17 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 22.29 Evaluated at bid price : 23.06 Bid-YTW : 3.72 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BMO.PR.W | FixedReset | 49,700 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 23.18 Evaluated at bid price : 25.11 Bid-YTW : 3.65 % |
| PWF.PR.H | Perpetual-Premium | 41,419 | TD crossed 40,000 at 25.45. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-09-28 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : -10.20 % |
| BAM.PF.D | Perpetual-Discount | 37,578 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 21.84 Evaluated at bid price : 22.16 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
| TD.PF.B | FixedReset | 31,523 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-08-29 Maturity Price : 23.22 Evaluated at bid price : 25.17 Bid-YTW : 3.68 % |
| BNS.PR.Y | FixedReset | 28,948 | Nesbitt bought 10,600 from anonymous at 23.93. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.86 Bid-YTW : 3.43 % |
| CM.PR.O | FixedReset | 25,500 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2019-07-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.44 Bid-YTW : 3.72 % |
| There were 17 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| CIU.PR.C | FixedReset | Quote: 20.51 – 21.50 Spot Rate : 0.9900 Average : 0.7688 YTW SCENARIO |
| NA.PR.M | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 26.33 – 26.67 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.1980 YTW SCENARIO |
| TD.PF.B | FixedReset | Quote: 25.17 – 25.48 Spot Rate : 0.3100 Average : 0.1785 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PF.B | FixedReset | Quote: 25.20 – 25.49 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.1791 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRP.PR.E | FixedReset | Quote: 25.45 – 25.70 Spot Rate : 0.2500 Average : 0.1442 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.F | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.41 – 25.68 Spot Rate : 0.2700 Average : 0.1752 YTW SCENARIO |