The posturing about Powell continues:
President Donald Trump said he will fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if he does not step aside when his term at the helm of the central bank expires next month.
“Then I’ll have to fire him,” Trump told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Wednesday in response to a question about Powell staying on at the Fed.
The timing of Powell’s departure from the Fed has been complicated by the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into the Fed chair that accuses Powell of lying to Congress in testimony last year about the Fed’s $2.5 billion-dollar renovation of its Washington, DC, headquarters. It’s a subject the Trump administration has zoned in on as part of its repeated criticism of Powell’s leadership of the Fed.
Trump in January nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to replace Powell, whose term leading the central bank expires on May 15. But North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, a key member of the committee that approves Fed nominees, reiterated this week that he will not vote to confirm Warsh until the Powell probe has concluded.
The Trump administration doubled down on its support for the probe this week, despite the likelihood that it will delay Warsh’s nomination and could lead to a legal faceoff with Powell that could prolong Trump’s unwanted Fed chair to stay at the central bank
| 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 | -0.2050 % | 2,489.4 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.2050 % | 4,720.2 |
| Floater | 5.82 % | 4.25 % | 26,462 | 16.67 | 4 | -0.2050 % | 2,720.3 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0079 % | 3,658.7 |
| SplitShare | 4.77 % | 3.13 % | 69,081 | 2.93 | 5 | -0.0079 % | 4,369.2 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0079 % | 3,409.0 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.90 % | 1.34 % | 63,195 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.0800 % | 3,004.1 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.73 % | 4.13 % | 48,820 | 16.94 | 34 | 0.3754 % | 3,307.4 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.83 % | 4.27 % | 112,078 | 16.47 | 27 | 0.0912 % | 3,230.8 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.62 % | 4.08 % | 55,827 | 16.99 | 22 | -0.0203 % | 3,234.5 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0912 % | 3,843.3 |
| FixedReset Prem | 5.99 % | 3.12 % | 85,388 | 1.98 | 21 | 0.1048 % | 2,648.9 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0912 % | 3,302.5 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.17 % | 3.83 % | 78,807 | 17.23 | 14 | -0.3290 % | 3,199.8 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| IFC.PR.E | Insurance Straight | -4.76 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.96 Evaluated at bid price : 22.20 Bid-YTW : 4.21 % |
| MFC.PR.B | Insurance Straight | -3.89 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 3.98 % |
| IFC.PR.F | Insurance Straight | -2.51 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 22.65 Evaluated at bid price : 22.91 Bid-YTW : 4.16 % |
| IFC.PR.A | FixedReset Ins Non | -2.20 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.77 Evaluated at bid price : 22.25 Bid-YTW : 3.86 % |
| IFC.PR.C | FixedReset Ins Non | -1.99 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2026-09-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.17 Bid-YTW : 1.52 % |
| PWF.PR.L | Perpetual-Discount | -1.28 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.51 Evaluated at bid price : 21.51 Bid-YTW : 4.25 % |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset Disc | -1.05 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 19.85 Evaluated at bid price : 19.85 Bid-YTW : 4.05 % |
| GWO.PR.L | Insurance Straight | 1.07 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 24.30 Evaluated at bid price : 24.61 Bid-YTW : 4.12 % |
| GWO.PR.P | Insurance Straight | 1.10 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 23.59 Evaluated at bid price : 23.86 Bid-YTW : 4.06 % |
| BN.PF.B | FixedReset Disc | 1.31 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 23.31 Evaluated at bid price : 24.80 Bid-YTW : 4.12 % |
| GWO.PR.Q | Insurance Straight | 1.35 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 22.33 Evaluated at bid price : 22.60 Bid-YTW : 4.09 % |
| ENB.PR.B | FixedReset Disc | 1.73 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.46 Evaluated at bid price : 21.80 Bid-YTW : 4.51 % |
| IFC.PR.K | Insurance Straight | 2.11 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 23.29 Evaluated at bid price : 23.75 Bid-YTW : 3.95 % |
| SLF.PR.C | Insurance Straight | 2.11 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 20.81 Evaluated at bid price : 20.81 Bid-YTW : 3.85 % |
| PWF.PR.R | Perpetual-Discount | 2.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 23.49 Evaluated at bid price : 23.76 Bid-YTW : 4.13 % |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 5.80 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 23.41 Evaluated at bid price : 23.70 Bid-YTW : 3.98 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BN.PF.C | Perpetual-Discount | 82,039 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 20.55 Evaluated at bid price : 20.55 Bid-YTW : 4.26 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | 67,508 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 14.05 Evaluated at bid price : 14.05 Bid-YTW : 4.02 % |
| CU.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | 35,500 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.29 Evaluated at bid price : 21.56 Bid-YTW : 4.09 % |
| RY.PR.S | FixedReset Prem | 32,075 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2029-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.53 Bid-YTW : 2.64 % |
| PWF.PR.Z | Perpetual-Discount | 30,187 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.91 Evaluated at bid price : 22.15 Bid-YTW : 4.15 % |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | 25,700 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-15 Maturity Price : 21.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 4.12 % |
| There were 9 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 |
| MFC.PR.B | Insurance Straight | Quote: 21.00 – 22.99 Spot Rate : 1.9900 Average : 1.2692 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.E | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.20 – 23.75 Spot Rate : 1.5500 Average : 0.9848 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.G | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.81 – 24.45 Spot Rate : 1.6400 Average : 1.1349 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 25.38 – 26.50 Spot Rate : 1.1200 Average : 0.7157 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.F | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.91 – 24.10 Spot Rate : 1.1900 Average : 0.8094 YTW SCENARIO |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 23.15 – 24.15 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6419 YTW SCENARIO |