Amidst all the problems facing the world today, it’s very nice to see that the US National Institute of Health is funding some vital research:
Training minority scientists, improving mentoring, and adjusting university enrollment processes are among the newly funded efforts to increase the diversity of the biomedical workforce. Armed with $31 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, a dozen university teams will lead the way in encouraging young students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to enter a career in scientific research, the agency announced this week (October 22).
On a brighter note, the ECB is getting at least a little more serious about stress tests:
Twenty-five lenders in the European Central Bank’s euro-area bank health check are poised to fail the regulator’s Comprehensive Assessment, according to a draft communique of the final results seen by Bloomberg News.
One-hundred-and-five banks are shown passing the review, according to the draft statement. Of the lenders that failed, about 10 will still face capital shortfalls they need to plug, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. That figure is likely to change as talks continue before the final results are published Oct. 26, said the person.
The two-part review forms one pillar of the ECB’s effort to rekindle confidence in the euro zone after half a decade of financial turmoil. ECB President Mario Draghi has said banks need to fail to prove the losses of the past have been dealt with. After two previous European stress tests didn’t reveal problems at lenders that later failed, the ECB has staked its reputation on getting this exercise right.
“The numbers are consistent with our expectations,” said Alberto Gallo, head of European macro-credit research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “It’s too early to say the exercise is credible. The key will be to see how much stress the strong banks will take, and how many of them will pass by a narrow margin.” He expects 11 banks will need to plug capital gaps after measures already taken this year.
An interesting sign of the times … Quadravest has published an extra evaluation of LFE.PR.B:
*Oct 17th NAV is being provided to investors in addition to the Oct 15th NAV, due to recent volatility in financial markets.
A pity they didn’t do this during the depths of the Credit Crunch – it would have been helpful.
And, as a parting note, PrefBlog endorses Doug Ford for Mayor of Toronto. He’s the only one who can credibly claim to be concerned about costs; Chow will spend because she has a vision, Tory will spend because it’s so much more inclusive than saying no. As a bonus, it will be great fun to go downtown after Ford is declared winner to watch all they geysers of latte erupt from people’s noses.
It was a positive day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts gaining 3bp, FixedResets up 4bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 13bp. Volatility was minimal. Volume was pathetically, awfully, ridiculously, terribly 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 | 3.18 % | 3.18 % | 19,257 | 19.28 | 1 | -1.0067 % | 2,627.0 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.7636 % | 3,974.2 |
| Floater | 3.00 % | 3.12 % | 65,260 | 19.41 | 4 | 0.7636 % | 2,668.6 |
| OpRet | 4.03 % | -0.84 % | 97,523 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.1969 % | 2,743.3 |
| SplitShare | 4.30 % | 3.91 % | 78,398 | 3.80 | 5 | -0.0875 % | 3,149.2 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.1969 % | 2,508.4 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.48 % | -1.80 % | 70,733 | 0.08 | 18 | 0.1138 % | 2,461.6 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.29 % | 5.14 % | 98,563 | 15.16 | 18 | 0.0262 % | 2,605.5 |
| FixedReset | 4.22 % | 3.60 % | 164,952 | 16.72 | 75 | 0.0391 % | 2,555.5 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.02 % | 1.96 % | 100,803 | 0.19 | 42 | 0.1298 % | 2,569.5 |
| FloatingReset | 2.55 % | -6.10 % | 58,483 | 0.08 | 6 | 0.0261 % | 2,547.0 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PF.E | FixedReset | -1.04 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.04 Evaluated at bid price : 24.74 Bid-YTW : 4.04 % |
| BAM.PR.E | Ratchet | -1.01 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.36 Evaluated at bid price : 23.60 Bid-YTW : 3.18 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 1.56 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 19.50 Evaluated at bid price : 19.50 Bid-YTW : 2.68 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| CM.PR.O | FixedReset | 60,870 | TD bought two blocks from CIBC – 10,000 at 25.16 and 20,700 at 25.15. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.24 Evaluated at bid price : 25.20 Bid-YTW : 3.60 % |
| ENB.PR.P | FixedReset | 53,327 | Scotia crossed 40,000 at 24.14. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 22.88 Evaluated at bid price : 24.13 Bid-YTW : 4.03 % |
| BAM.PR.C | Floater | 42,905 | Nesbitt crossed 40,000 at 16.72. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 16.74 Evaluated at bid price : 16.74 Bid-YTW : 3.16 % |
| NA.PR.W | FixedReset | 41,420 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.11 Evaluated at bid price : 24.91 Bid-YTW : 3.62 % |
| ENB.PR.J | FixedReset | 26,505 | Scotia crossed 24,100 at 24.95. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.24 Evaluated at bid price : 25.08 Bid-YTW : 3.98 % |
| ENB.PF.G | FixedReset | 22,975 | TD bought 10,000 from CIBC at 25.10. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2044-10-24 Maturity Price : 23.13 Evaluated at bid price : 25.06 Bid-YTW : 4.07 % |
| There were 8 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| NEW.PR.D | SplitShare | Quote: 32.65 – 33.65 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6960 YTW SCENARIO |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 21.52 – 21.80 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.1712 YTW SCENARIO |
| ELF.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 21.88 – 22.16 Spot Rate : 0.2800 Average : 0.2018 YTW SCENARIO |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 22.40 – 22.70 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2228 YTW SCENARIO |
| PVS.PR.D | SplitShare | Quote: 24.30 – 24.60 Spot Rate : 0.3000 Average : 0.2284 YTW SCENARIO |
| CU.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 22.24 – 22.44 Spot Rate : 0.2000 Average : 0.1379 YTW SCENARIO |