US wholesale inflation popped:
Fast-rising oil prices sent US businesses’ costs higher in March, lifting wholesale inflation to 4%, the highest annual rate in three years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday.
The Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices received by producers of goods and services, rose 0.5% from February, the same pace seen the month before. A 15.7% rise in gasoline prices accounted for nearly half of last month’s increase.
…
Still, despite wholesale inflation hitting a three-year high, the March PPI report fared better than economists had expected. They estimated that the war-driven energy shock would cause prices to jump 1.1% from February, driving the annual rate to 4.6%, according to FactSet consensus estimates.Instead, Tuesday’s report showed that falling food prices and flat services prices helped to blunt some of the blow from the rapidly rising oil prices.
Another likely factor in the tamer-than-expected numbers was the report’s timing: The BLS asked businesses to provide pricing data as of Tuesday of the week containing the 13th. In this case, that would be March 10, which was just two weeks after the US-Israeli strikes in Iran began.
When excluding the volatile categories of food and energy, core PPI rose just 0.1% for the month, holding the annual rate steady at 3.8%.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| 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 | -0.1860 % | 2,494.5 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.1860 % | 4,729.9 |
| Floater | 5.81 % | 5.95 % | 25,746 | 13.99 | 4 | -0.1860 % | 2,725.9 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0315 % | 3,658.9 |
| SplitShare | 4.77 % | 4.43 % | 67,706 | 2.89 | 5 | -0.0315 % | 4,369.6 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0315 % | 3,409.3 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.90 % | 2.77 % | 63,052 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.6847 % | 3,001.7 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.75 % | 5.81 % | 49,434 | 14.19 | 34 | 0.4295 % | 3,295.0 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.83 % | 5.97 % | 113,133 | 13.76 | 27 | 0.3242 % | 3,227.8 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.62 % | 5.73 % | 58,871 | 14.29 | 22 | 0.2608 % | 3,235.2 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.3242 % | 3,839.8 |
| FixedReset Prem | 6.00 % | 4.57 % | 84,617 | 1.97 | 21 | 0.3652 % | 2,646.2 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.3242 % | 3,299.5 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.15 % | 5.30 % | 74,933 | 14.47 | 14 | 0.9146 % | 3,210.4 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| ENB.PR.B | FixedReset Disc | -1.70 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.43 Evaluated at bid price : 21.43 Bid-YTW : 6.47 % |
| SLF.PR.H | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 22.95 Evaluated at bid price : 23.74 Bid-YTW : 5.45 % |
| MFC.PR.J | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.10 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2028-03-19 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.78 Bid-YTW : 4.72 % |
| ENB.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | 1.10 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 22.30 Evaluated at bid price : 22.95 Bid-YTW : 6.22 % |
| BIP.PR.F | FixedReset Prem | 1.28 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 23.53 Evaluated at bid price : 25.31 Bid-YTW : 5.98 % |
| PWF.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 1.35 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 22.28 Evaluated at bid price : 22.55 Bid-YTW : 5.83 % |
| POW.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | 1.42 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.98 Evaluated at bid price : 22.21 Bid-YTW : 5.65 % |
| IFC.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.71 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2028-06-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.53 Bid-YTW : 5.13 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | 1.88 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.10 Evaluated at bid price : 21.10 Bid-YTW : 5.71 % |
| BN.PF.C | Perpetual-Discount | 2.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 20.45 Evaluated at bid price : 20.45 Bid-YTW : 5.99 % |
| IFC.PR.A | FixedReset Ins Non | 2.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 22.40 Evaluated at bid price : 22.75 Bid-YTW : 5.31 % |
| CU.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 2.50 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 20.50 Evaluated at bid price : 20.50 Bid-YTW : 5.57 % |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 2.77 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 23.91 Evaluated at bid price : 24.15 Bid-YTW : 5.83 % |
| MFC.PR.B | Insurance Straight | 4.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.59 Evaluated at bid price : 21.85 Bid-YTW : 5.36 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | 4.79 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 20.12 Evaluated at bid price : 20.12 Bid-YTW : 5.55 % |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | 5.36 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.41 Evaluated at bid price : 21.41 Bid-YTW : 6.23 % |
| BN.PR.Z | FixedReset Prem | 6.04 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2027-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.45 Bid-YTW : 5.15 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | 108,515 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 22.36 Evaluated at bid price : 23.16 Bid-YTW : 5.78 % |
| PWF.PR.L | Perpetual-Discount | 86,500 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.53 Evaluated at bid price : 21.79 Bid-YTW : 5.86 % |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 80,585 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 23.91 Evaluated at bid price : 24.15 Bid-YTW : 5.83 % |
| MFC.PR.C | Insurance Straight | 77,700 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 20.90 Evaluated at bid price : 20.90 Bid-YTW : 5.44 % |
| MFC.PR.B | Insurance Straight | 72,415 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.59 Evaluated at bid price : 21.85 Bid-YTW : 5.36 % |
| ENB.PR.Y | FixedReset Disc | 62,289 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-14 Maturity Price : 21.39 Evaluated at bid price : 21.72 Bid-YTW : 6.33 % |
| There were 14 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| See TMX DataLinx: ‘Last’ != ‘Close’ and the posts linked therein for an idea of why these quotes are so horrible. | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 22.40 – 24.34 Spot Rate : 1.9400 Average : 1.6888 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.10 – 24.70 Spot Rate : 0.6000 Average : 0.3790 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.F | Insurance Straight | Quote: 23.50 – 24.10 Spot Rate : 0.6000 Average : 0.3920 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 18.70 – 19.20 Spot Rate : 0.5000 Average : 0.3143 YTW SCENARIO |
| ELF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.50 – 24.00 Spot Rate : 0.5000 Average : 0.3185 YTW SCENARIO |
| PWF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.40 – 24.97 Spot Rate : 0.5700 Average : 0.4282 YTW SCENARIO |