March 30, 2016

It’s nice to see a little high-level push-back against civil forfeiture:

Q: What reforms would help fix the flaws in the law?

A: I’m working to draft bipartisan reforms to fix these flaws. For starters, the direct quid pro quo between asset forfeiture and funding should be eliminated. Law enforcement shouldn’t be relying on funds obtained from forfeiting the particular assets that they have seized or shift crime-fighting priorities based on financial considerations. In addition, real procedural reforms must be enacted for people whose assets are seized, including prompt timelines for government action and the ability to challenge the seizure promptly before a judge. And, individuals who cannot afford a lawyer to guide them through the system should be provided one. Part of addressing this problem lies in reversing the Supreme Court’s recent decision that allows the government to prevent people from showing that they need access to their seized funds to hire a lawyer. We also need to codify changes in the use of civil asset forfeiture in structuring cases, where small business owners like Iowa’s Carole Hinders get unfairly caught up in forfeiture for depositing money in a bank without any indication of any underlying crime. The government’s burden of proof for forfeiting assets needs to be raised.

It’s clear the current process isn’t working as Congress intended. It is time to end seizure for suspicion’s sake and enact reforms that will help restore the proper mission of asset forfeiture laws and rebuild credibility in our law enforcement agencies.

Market and Fed policy rate expectations are converging:

The Federal Reserve looks to have outsourced monetary policy to the financial markets — and that may not necessarily be bad.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday that policy makers had scaled back the number of interest rate increases they expect to carry out this year after investors did the same.

She argued that the downgrading of rate expectations in the market had led to lower bond yields, providing the economy with needed support in the face of weaker growth overseas. The Fed then followed suit this month by reducing its anticipated rate hikes in 2016 to two from four quarter-percentage point moves projected in December.

policyExpectationConvergence
Click for Big

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.63%, equivalent to 7.32% interest at the standard conversion factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield about 4.1%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 320bp, unchanged from the figure reported March 23.

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 5.00 % 6.08 % 11,039 16.60 1 1.8854 % 1,571.9
FixedFloater 6.86 % 6.03 % 24,847 16.26 1 1.0949 % 2,898.4
Floater 4.63 % 4.76 % 62,625 15.93 4 -1.3050 % 1,672.7
OpRet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.2997 % 2,791.1
SplitShare 4.75 % 5.27 % 88,709 1.61 6 0.2997 % 3,266.1
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.2997 % 2,548.3
Perpetual-Premium 5.79 % -4.49 % 89,184 0.08 6 -0.2039 % 2,560.5
Perpetual-Discount 5.61 % 5.63 % 94,587 14.39 33 0.1798 % 2,592.5
FixedReset 5.31 % 4.81 % 184,776 13.94 87 -0.3188 % 1,921.6
Deemed-Retractible 5.20 % 5.55 % 130,740 5.08 34 0.1698 % 2,617.8
FloatingReset 3.04 % 5.04 % 37,342 5.39 16 -0.1836 % 2,018.4
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
TRP.PR.I FloatingReset -4.35 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 11.00
Evaluated at bid price : 11.00
Bid-YTW : 4.49 %
TD.PR.S FixedReset -3.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.61
Bid-YTW : 4.78 %
TRP.PR.G FixedReset -3.07 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 18.61
Evaluated at bid price : 18.61
Bid-YTW : 5.02 %
HSE.PR.A FixedReset -2.36 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 10.35
Evaluated at bid price : 10.35
Bid-YTW : 5.93 %
TRP.PR.B FixedReset -2.31 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 10.99
Evaluated at bid price : 10.99
Bid-YTW : 4.62 %
BAM.PR.T FixedReset -1.97 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 15.45
Evaluated at bid price : 15.45
Bid-YTW : 5.02 %
HSE.PR.E FixedReset -1.81 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 18.41
Evaluated at bid price : 18.41
Bid-YTW : 5.91 %
TRP.PR.D FixedReset -1.80 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 16.96
Evaluated at bid price : 16.96
Bid-YTW : 4.76 %
TRP.PR.C FixedReset -1.69 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 11.61
Evaluated at bid price : 11.61
Bid-YTW : 4.84 %
CIU.PR.C FixedReset -1.69 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 11.06
Evaluated at bid price : 11.06
Bid-YTW : 4.71 %
TRP.PR.A FixedReset -1.63 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 15.05
Evaluated at bid price : 15.05
Bid-YTW : 4.59 %
BAM.PR.X FixedReset -1.62 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 14.00
Evaluated at bid price : 14.00
Bid-YTW : 4.73 %
IAG.PR.G FixedReset -1.57 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 18.85
Bid-YTW : 7.56 %
BNS.PR.Q FixedReset -1.56 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.67
Bid-YTW : 4.92 %
BAM.PR.K Floater -1.49 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 9.90
Evaluated at bid price : 9.90
Bid-YTW : 4.78 %
BAM.PR.B Floater -1.49 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 9.94
Evaluated at bid price : 9.94
Bid-YTW : 4.76 %
GWO.PR.N FixedReset -1.48 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.35
Bid-YTW : 10.29 %
RY.PR.I FixedReset -1.44 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 23.26
Bid-YTW : 4.54 %
TRP.PR.E FixedReset -1.39 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 17.75
Evaluated at bid price : 17.75
Bid-YTW : 4.62 %
RY.PR.K FloatingReset -1.35 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.85
Bid-YTW : 4.87 %
PWF.PR.A Floater -1.33 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 11.10
Evaluated at bid price : 11.10
Bid-YTW : 4.30 %
BIP.PR.B FixedReset -1.31 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 22.86
Evaluated at bid price : 24.15
Bid-YTW : 5.66 %
NA.PR.S FixedReset -1.31 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 18.15
Evaluated at bid price : 18.15
Bid-YTW : 4.57 %
MFC.PR.I FixedReset -1.21 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 18.83
Bid-YTW : 7.67 %
CU.PR.C FixedReset -1.07 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 17.51
Evaluated at bid price : 17.51
Bid-YTW : 4.55 %
HSE.PR.G FixedReset 1.04 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 18.44
Evaluated at bid price : 18.44
Bid-YTW : 5.89 %
BAM.PR.G FixedFloater 1.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.85
Bid-YTW : 6.03 %
RY.PR.F Deemed-Retractible 1.11 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.67
Bid-YTW : 4.82 %
BAM.PF.G FixedReset 1.13 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 19.65
Evaluated at bid price : 19.65
Bid-YTW : 4.81 %
PVS.PR.D SplitShare 1.16 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2021-10-08
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 23.51
Bid-YTW : 5.87 %
PWF.PR.Q FloatingReset 1.26 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 11.25
Evaluated at bid price : 11.25
Bid-YTW : 4.60 %
FTS.PR.H FixedReset 1.35 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 12.79
Evaluated at bid price : 12.79
Bid-YTW : 4.40 %
W.PR.K FixedReset 1.35 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 23.16
Evaluated at bid price : 24.95
Bid-YTW : 5.18 %
FTS.PR.I FloatingReset 1.45 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 10.50
Evaluated at bid price : 10.50
Bid-YTW : 4.54 %
MFC.PR.F FixedReset 1.46 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.21
Bid-YTW : 10.47 %
BAM.PR.E Ratchet 1.89 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.51
Bid-YTW : 6.08 %
PWF.PR.T FixedReset 2.04 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 19.50
Evaluated at bid price : 19.50
Bid-YTW : 4.22 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
RY.PR.R FixedReset 87,594 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-08-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.96
Bid-YTW : 4.79 %
BNS.PR.N Deemed-Retractible 67,005 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-01-27
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.30
Bid-YTW : 4.86 %
RY.PR.Z FixedReset 60,289 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 18.51
Evaluated at bid price : 18.51
Bid-YTW : 4.22 %
RY.PR.D Deemed-Retractible 59,461 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.90
Bid-YTW : 4.69 %
TD.PF.G FixedReset 56,716 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-04-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.87
Bid-YTW : 5.01 %
BNS.PR.L Deemed-Retractible 39,093 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-05-27
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.24
Bid-YTW : 3.14 %
There were 49 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
GWO.PR.O FloatingReset Quote: 12.01 – 14.25
Spot Rate : 2.2400
Average : 1.7176

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 12.01
Bid-YTW : 11.14 %

TD.PR.S FixedReset Quote: 22.61 – 23.77
Spot Rate : 1.1600
Average : 0.8311

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.61
Bid-YTW : 4.78 %

SLF.PR.J FloatingReset Quote: 12.30 – 13.00
Spot Rate : 0.7000
Average : 0.4251

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 12.30
Bid-YTW : 10.99 %

TD.PR.Z FloatingReset Quote: 21.32 – 22.00
Spot Rate : 0.6800
Average : 0.5336

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.32
Bid-YTW : 5.07 %

IAG.PR.G FixedReset Quote: 18.85 – 19.30
Spot Rate : 0.4500
Average : 0.3204

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 18.85
Bid-YTW : 7.56 %

BAM.PR.G FixedFloater Quote: 13.85 – 14.24
Spot Rate : 0.3900
Average : 0.2611

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2046-03-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 13.85
Bid-YTW : 6.03 %

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