Having prepared the ground with a programme of vilification, Comrade Obama is suggesting a supertax on banks:
President Barack Obama is considering a fee on financial services companies for inclusion in the budget plan he’s set to release next month as a way to cut the federal deficit, an administration official said.
Obama has vowed to halve the deficit, which was $1.4 trillion last year in part because of stimulus spending, the costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and bailouts of financial institutions and companies such as the automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.
One wonders whether Mayor Bloomberg will have the same courage as Boris Johnson:
The Tory mayor has written to the chair of the Commons Treasury select committee, John McFall, to urge him to open an immediate inquiry into the government’s plans for a new tax on bankers’ bonuses, the 50p top tax rate, which will primarily affect London and the UK’s financial sector, and regulatory changes.
…
The mayor estimates that up to 9,000 staff, many highly skilled, could leave the UK, potentially costing the exchequer over £1.2bn in lost tax and national insurance contributions annually – although the latest predictions are that the government could take in £2bn from the bonus tax.Johnson said that, although London would remain one of the most attractive cities to do business in, “these ‘salami-slicing’, shortsighted proposals could potentially and permanently damage the competitiveness of London as a financial centre by driving away the city’s unique cluster of highly skilled people, ideas and expertise.”
The Canadian preferred share market was able to eke out a small gain on the day, with PerpetualDiscounts up 3bp and FixedResets up 4bp, as volume remained good.
| 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 | -0.3485 % | 1,709.4 |
| FixedFloater | 5.65 % | 3.80 % | 34,388 | 19.01 | 1 | 0.9434 % | 2,759.3 |
| Floater | 2.30 % | 2.64 % | 111,147 | 20.69 | 3 | -0.3485 % | 2,135.5 |
| OpRet | 4.83 % | -6.91 % | 111,407 | 0.08 | 13 | -0.3373 % | 2,326.2 |
| SplitShare | 6.36 % | -1.27 % | 177,147 | 0.08 | 2 | 0.0878 % | 2,113.0 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3373 % | 2,127.1 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.77 % | 5.61 % | 145,389 | 2.27 | 12 | -0.2564 % | 1,900.0 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.72 % | 5.75 % | 182,889 | 14.25 | 63 | 0.0331 % | 1,836.0 |
| FixedReset | 5.39 % | 3.46 % | 327,982 | 3.86 | 41 | 0.0426 % | 2,185.5 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| MFC.PR.E | FixedReset | -1.56 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-10-19 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 27.07 Bid-YTW : 3.80 % |
| MFC.PR.A | OpRet | -1.45 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-07-19 Maturity Price : 26.25 Evaluated at bid price : 26.46 Bid-YTW : 2.85 % |
| BAM.PR.H | OpRet | -1.11 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-02-10 Maturity Price : 25.50 Evaluated at bid price : 25.81 Bid-YTW : -6.91 % |
| TRI.PR.B | Floater | -1.10 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-01-11 Maturity Price : 21.51 Evaluated at bid price : 21.51 Bid-YTW : 1.84 % |
| BMO.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | -1.04 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-01-11 Maturity Price : 22.90 Evaluated at bid price : 23.90 Bid-YTW : 5.58 % |
| TD.PR.R | Perpetual-Premium | -1.00 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-01-11 Maturity Price : 24.53 Evaluated at bid price : 24.75 Bid-YTW : 5.66 % |
| W.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | 1.00 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-01-11 Maturity Price : 23.95 Evaluated at bid price : 24.20 Bid-YTW : 5.81 % |
| ELF.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 1.06 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-01-11 Maturity Price : 18.19 Evaluated at bid price : 18.19 Bid-YTW : 6.58 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| BNS.PR.Q | FixedReset | 118,325 | TD crossed 110,000 at 26.43. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-11-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.55 Bid-YTW : 3.20 % |
| TD.PR.M | OpRet | 110,020 | RBC crossed 107,000 at 26.50. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-02-10 Maturity Price : 26.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.25 Bid-YTW : -10.04 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 74,921 | Anonymous bought 14,000 from Scotia. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2015-01-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.00 Bid-YTW : 3.77 % |
| RY.PR.N | FixedReset | 73,375 | RBC crossed blocks of 57,300 and 14,000 at 28.20. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-03-26 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 28.12 Bid-YTW : 3.27 % |
| BNS.PR.R | FixedReset | 70,400 | RBC sold 10,000 to TD at 26.50, then crossed 48,400 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-02-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.40 Bid-YTW : 3.46 % |
| TD.PR.N | OpRet | 51,825 | RBC crossed 50,000 at 26.44. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-02-10 Maturity Price : 26.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.30 Bid-YTW : -12.25 % |
| There were 33 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
[…] Good volume in the Canadian preferred share market today, led by the two TD OperatingRetractibles, with the selling dominated by National Bank. There was also a decent bit more price volatility, with six entries on the Performance Highlights, while PerpetualDiscounts lost 3bp at the same time as FixedResets gained 8bp. That took the FixedReset median weighted average yield down to 3.46%, equal (to five significant figures) to its all-time low on January 11. […]