PrefBlog

CIT Group has slightly amended its bankruptcy terms.

Willem Buiter is frequently quoted on PrefBlog … and now he’s got a new job!:

Citigroup Inc. hired former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter as its chief economist to fill the position left vacant by Lewis Alexander’s move to the U.S. Treasury eight months ago.

The appointment by the bank, which is 34 percent owned by the U.S. government, puts an academic known for his outspokenness in its most senior economics position. In 2008, Buiter told the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the central bank pays too much heed to the concerns of Wall Street.

The Tobin Tax idea seems to be getting some press attention:

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Nov. 7 that a transaction tax might compensate for the billions of dollars that the public has spent on bank bailouts. Government officials in France, Germany and Austria have voiced their backing. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answered Brown a day later, saying the tax was not something the U.S. would support. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand, says the idea has “substantial currency” among congressional Democrats.

As noted on November 11, Gordon Brown mentioned the idea, but not in a manner to indicate either support or opposition.

Canadian Bond Indices is now offering live quotes on selected bonds. The link has been added to the “Canadian Fixed Income Data” category on the right hand panel of PrefBlog.

The Canadian preferred share market closed the month on a high note, with PerpetualDiscounts up 9bp and FixedResets gaining 5bp, on moderate volume. PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.82%, equivalent to 8.15% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.4x. Long Corporates now yield about 5.9%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (also called the Seniority Spread, around here, anyway) is now about 225bp, a 10bp tightening from the 235bp reported on November 25.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Market Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.