David Berman wrote a piece in the Globe today extolling preferred shares:
When you start constructing a portfolio that will generate cash in your retirement – or hey, you just like the idea of steady income today – preferred shares may be worth a look.
They beckon with yields north of 5 per cent, which is significantly better than current yields on government bonds and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs).
And when held in a taxable account, the distributions from preferred shares receive favourable treatment from the government.
Kevin Warsh had his confirmation hearing for the Fed chair today:
Kevin Warsh faced searching questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday. Democrats and even at times Republicans challenged his complicated finances, his relationship to President Donald Trump and what often seems like a wide-eyed endorsement of the promise of artificial intelligence. But one core issue for Warsh went all but unquestioned: his plan for what he calls “regime change” at the Federal Reserve.
…
Warsh would break that status quo. He declined at the hearing to commit to continuing with regular press conferences, which the Fed has held since the financial crisis. He would abandon forward guidance, the Fed’s way of signaling to the markets where it wants interest rates to go. He would even move away from the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the core personal consumption expenditure measure, which he dismissed as a “rough swag as to what was going on” with prices. “We don’t have to do a rough swag any more.”These ideas aren’t just window dressing for Warsh. They are how he brings down the long-term interest rates that trouble Americans in the form of higher mortgage and credit-card rates. Warsh believes markets have driven those rates up in response to muddled policy from the Fed, including the recent spike in inflation after Covid — but going much further back, too. The Fed, he argues, has lost credibility.
Well, he’s entitled to his opinions. But when I think of my mental list of American institutions that have lost credibility over the past fifteen months … the Fed ain’t there.
| 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 | 0.2617 % | 2,493.6 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2617 % | 4,728.2 |
| Floater | 5.81 % | 5.97 % | 26,921 | 13.95 | 4 | 0.2617 % | 2,724.9 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2764 % | 3,664.1 |
| SplitShare | 4.76 % | 4.57 % | 61,574 | 2.87 | 5 | 0.2764 % | 4,375.8 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2764 % | 3,414.1 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.85 % | -6.44 % | 60,476 | 0.08 | 1 | -0.0396 % | 3,028.1 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.67 % | 5.72 % | 52,177 | 14.31 | 34 | 0.7340 % | 3,341.8 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.79 % | 5.91 % | 113,177 | 13.84 | 27 | 0.2467 % | 3,252.8 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.54 % | 5.60 % | 54,684 | 14.42 | 22 | 0.7818 % | 3,280.1 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2467 % | 3,869.5 |
| FixedReset Prem | 5.97 % | 4.42 % | 97,172 | 1.95 | 21 | 0.0916 % | 2,657.6 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2467 % | 3,325.0 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.11 % | 5.26 % | 79,930 | 14.55 | 14 | 0.4740 % | 3,236.3 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| GWO.PR.T | Insurance Straight | -2.39 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.23 Evaluated at bid price : 22.50 Bid-YTW : 5.77 % |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | -1.82 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.02 Evaluated at bid price : 21.02 Bid-YTW : 5.77 % |
| MFC.PR.J | FixedReset Ins Non | -1.62 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2028-03-19 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.58 Bid-YTW : 5.21 % |
| TD.PF.I | FixedReset Prem | 1.00 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2027-10-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.24 Bid-YTW : 2.87 % |
| IFC.PR.M | Perpetual-Discount | 1.01 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 24.57 Evaluated at bid price : 24.97 Bid-YTW : 5.54 % |
| ENB.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | 1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 24.50 Evaluated at bid price : 24.75 Bid-YTW : 5.63 % |
| GWO.PR.H | Insurance Straight | 1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.28 Evaluated at bid price : 21.55 Bid-YTW : 5.67 % |
| SLF.PR.C | Insurance Straight | 1.10 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.21 Evaluated at bid price : 21.21 Bid-YTW : 5.30 % |
| CU.PR.K | Perpetual-Discount | 1.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 24.60 Evaluated at bid price : 25.00 Bid-YTW : 5.67 % |
| SLF.PR.H | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.26 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.25 Evaluated at bid price : 24.05 Bid-YTW : 5.37 % |
| BN.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | 1.27 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.81 Evaluated at bid price : 23.90 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| MFC.PR.K | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.71 Evaluated at bid price : 25.69 Bid-YTW : 5.26 % |
| GWO.PR.Y | Insurance Straight | 1.50 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 20.30 Evaluated at bid price : 20.30 Bid-YTW : 5.60 % |
| GWO.PR.Q | Insurance Straight | 1.66 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.43 Evaluated at bid price : 22.69 Bid-YTW : 5.72 % |
| MFC.PR.F | FixedReset Ins Non | 2.51 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.25 Evaluated at bid price : 21.25 Bid-YTW : 5.28 % |
| GWO.PR.I | Insurance Straight | 2.82 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 20.77 Evaluated at bid price : 20.77 Bid-YTW : 5.47 % |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | 3.03 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.68 Evaluated at bid price : 22.10 Bid-YTW : 6.00 % |
| FTS.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 3.44 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.28 Evaluated at bid price : 22.55 Bid-YTW : 5.50 % |
| SLF.PR.D | Insurance Straight | 4.01 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.01 Evaluated at bid price : 21.01 Bid-YTW : 5.35 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | 4.42 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 20.57 Evaluated at bid price : 20.57 Bid-YTW : 5.41 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | 5.40 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.29 Evaluated at bid price : 21.29 Bid-YTW : 5.67 % |
| IFC.PR.E | Insurance Straight | 5.90 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.25 Evaluated at bid price : 23.51 Bid-YTW : 5.57 % |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 6.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.53 Evaluated at bid price : 23.80 Bid-YTW : 5.59 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| PWF.PR.L | Perpetual-Discount | 101,100 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.07 Evaluated at bid price : 22.30 Bid-YTW : 5.74 % |
| IFC.PR.E | Insurance Straight | 100,702 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.25 Evaluated at bid price : 23.51 Bid-YTW : 5.57 % |
| CU.PR.K | Perpetual-Discount | 89,222 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 24.60 Evaluated at bid price : 25.00 Bid-YTW : 5.67 % |
| PWF.PR.E | Perpetual-Discount | 35,700 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 23.59 Evaluated at bid price : 23.86 Bid-YTW : 5.78 % |
| PWF.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | 31,600 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 22.71 Evaluated at bid price : 22.96 Bid-YTW : 5.73 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | 26,600 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-04-21 Maturity Price : 21.10 Evaluated at bid price : 21.10 Bid-YTW : 5.53 % |
| There were 10 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 |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 23.45 – 24.45 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6971 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.C | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 25.37 – 26.37 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.7439 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | Quote: 21.02 – 21.67 Spot Rate : 0.6500 Average : 0.4664 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.L | Insurance Straight | Quote: 24.50 – 25.09 Spot Rate : 0.5900 Average : 0.4880 YTW SCENARIO |
| CU.PR.D | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 21.65 – 21.99 Spot Rate : 0.3400 Average : 0.2459 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.T | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.50 – 23.34 Spot Rate : 0.8400 Average : 0.7584 YTW SCENARIO |