{"id":14343,"date":"2011-03-10T00:35:03","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T04:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prefblog.com\/?p=14343"},"modified":"2011-03-10T00:35:03","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T04:35:03","slug":"march-9-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=14343","title":{"rendered":"March 9, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day started with rumours that some of the owners of Alpha Trading Systems<\/a> don’t want big brother to get married<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Four of the country\u2019s six largest banks are lining up to raise red flags about the planned merger of the parent companies of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, saying the country risks losing clout as a financial centre.
…<\/b>
The banks plan to lay out their concerns this week in a public letter. The wording of the letter, tentatively titled \u201cLet\u2019s build on a Canadian success story,\u201d has not been finalized, nor has the list of signatories, but sources said Tuesday that the banks that were on side as of then included Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is co-ordinating the effort, as well as Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and National Bank of Canada.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hey, if you can’t compete, run home crying to mommy, that’s what I always say! Boyd Erman comments<\/a>:<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that on some level, Alpha may be factoring into the calculations, but the web of conflicting behaviour suggests that Alpha is not the driving factor behind whether banks support or oppose the TMX-LSE deal.<\/p>\n

The last argument is the old small-town one, that the banks would like to remain the big fish in a small pond. It may be that the banks are being parochial, and want to keep control of the TMX within walking distance of their own head offices. This one probably has the most weight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How are you going to keep the boys on the farm, once they’ve seen the City? And the furrinners might not have the proper reverence for Canadian banks, or might send in their resumes once their regulatory stint is over. Another mouth to feed!<\/p>\n

As it turns out the Financial Post has published the letter<\/a>. It’s vagueness, incoherence and prediliction for sweeping fearmongery make it clear to me that whatever they’re talking about, it’s not the merits of the deal.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg reports<\/a> on today’s testimony to a parliamentry committee. Caldwell has a number of fish to fry with respect to exchange mergers<\/a>, but had the right idea:<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course they\u2019re against it because it provides real competition for Alpha,\u201d said Brendan Caldwell, Chief Executive Officer of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd., a money manager that owns shares in TMX. \u201cThey banks don\u2019t like real competition, they like the little oligopoly where they divvy up the financial pie of Canada amongst themselves. It\u2019s quite incestuous.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Globe plays up support for the deal from the Toronto Financial Services Alliance<\/a>. I confess I don’t know much about this group, but they repeat that hoary canard about the WEF ranking of banks around the world<\/a> on the front page of their website<\/a>, so their opinions can’t be worth much.<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Financial Stress Index is at its lowest level since June 2007<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Click for big<\/i><\/div>\n

Another mixed day in the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 22bp, FixedResets gaining 3bp and DeemedRetractibles slipping 4bp. Only one entry – which barely made it – in the Performance Highlights table. Volume remained high.<\/p>\n

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.64%, equivalent to 7.33% interest at the new standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates<\/a> now yield about 5.6% (ok, maybe a tiny bit less) so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread is now about 175bp, a slight (and perhaps spurious) decline from the 180bp reported on March 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices<\/strong>
Values are provisional and are finalized monthly<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Index<\/td>\nMean
Current
Yield
(at bid)<\/td>\n		Median
YTW<\/td>\n		Median
Average
Trading
Value<\/td>\n		Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)<\/td>\n		Issues<\/td>\nDay’s Perf.<\/td>\nIndex Value<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ratchet<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.00<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.1428 %<\/td>\n2,399.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FixedFloater<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.00<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.1428 %<\/td>\n3,608.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Floater<\/td>\n2.50 %<\/td>\n2.27 %<\/td>\n44,728<\/td>\n21.54<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n0.1428 %<\/td>\n2,590.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OpRet<\/td>\n4.87 %<\/td>\n3.49 %<\/td>\n56,958<\/td>\n0.38<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n0.1204 %<\/td>\n2,392.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SplitShare<\/td>\n5.09 %<\/td>\n3.02 %<\/td>\n208,689<\/td>\n1.03<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n0.0640 %<\/td>\n2,485.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Interest-Bearing<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.00<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.1204 %<\/td>\n2,187.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perpetual-Premium<\/td>\n5.74 %<\/td>\n5.56 %<\/td>\n135,565<\/td>\n6.24<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n0.0496 %<\/td>\n2,033.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perpetual-Discount<\/td>\n5.51 %<\/td>\n5.64 %<\/td>\n125,895<\/td>\n14.37<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n0.2190 %<\/td>\n2,117.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FixedReset<\/td>\n5.21 %<\/td>\n3.54 %<\/td>\n202,236<\/td>\n2.98<\/td>\n54<\/td>\n0.0307 %<\/td>\n2,280.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deemed-Retractible<\/td>\n5.23 %<\/td>\n5.27 %<\/td>\n360,715<\/td>\n8.27<\/td>\n53<\/td>\n-0.0359 %<\/td>\n2,078.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
Performance Highlights<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Issue<\/td>\nIndex<\/td>\nChange<\/td>\nNotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
HSB.PR.D<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\n1.00 %<\/td>\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 24.14
\nBid-YTW : 5.57 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Volume Highlights<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Issue<\/td>\nIndex<\/td>\nShares
Traded<\/td>\n		Notes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MFC.PR.B<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\n89,987<\/td>\nRBC crossed 80,000 at 22.45.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 22.33
\nBid-YTW : 6.02 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BMO.PR.P<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n67,888<\/td>\nDesjardins crossed blocks of 26,600 and 30,000, both at 26.75.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2015-03-27
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 26.72
\nBid-YTW : 3.61 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TCA.PR.X<\/td>\nPerpetual-Premium<\/td>\n45,874<\/td>\nNesbitt crossed 40,000 at 50.40.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2041-03-09
\nMaturity Price : 46.98
\nEvaluated at bid price : 50.31
\nBid-YTW : 5.56 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TRP.PR.A<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n38,901<\/td>\nTD crossed 19,700 at 25.85.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2015-01-30
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.80
\nBid-YTW : 3.65 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FTS.PR.G<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n38,125<\/td>\nRBC crossed 30,000 at 25.85.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2013-10-01
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.90
\nBid-YTW : 3.78 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SLF.PR.G<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n38,089<\/td>\nScotia crossed 20,000 at 25.25 and bought 10,000 from anonymous at the same price.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.15
\nBid-YTW : 4.11 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
There were 53 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Wide Spread Highlights<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Issue<\/td>\nIndex<\/td>\nQuote Data and Yield Notes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FTS.PR.H<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\nQuote: 25.20 – 25.50
\nSpot Rate : 0.3000
\nAverage : 0.1971<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2015-07-01
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.20
\nBid-YTW : 4.08 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

TRI.PR.B<\/td>\nFloater<\/td>\nQuote: 23.00 – 23.79
\nSpot Rate : 0.7900
\nAverage : 0.6877<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2041-03-09
\nMaturity Price : 22.71
\nEvaluated at bid price : 23.00
\nBid-YTW : 2.27 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

HSB.PR.C<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\nQuote: 24.63 – 24.99
\nSpot Rate : 0.3600
\nAverage : 0.2665<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 24.63
\nBid-YTW : 5.43 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

GWO.PR.L<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\nQuote: 24.80 – 25.07
\nSpot Rate : 0.2700
\nAverage : 0.1811<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 24.80
\nBid-YTW : 5.74 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

BMO.PR.H<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\nQuote: 25.22 – 25.47
\nSpot Rate : 0.2500
\nAverage : 0.1690<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2013-03-27
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.22
\nBid-YTW : 4.96 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

TD.PR.G<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\nQuote: 27.26 – 27.49
\nSpot Rate : 0.2300
\nAverage : 0.1512<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2014-05-30
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 27.26
\nBid-YTW : 3.57 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day started with rumours that some of the owners of Alpha Trading Systems don’t want big brother to get married: Four of the country\u2019s six largest banks are lining up to raise red flags …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-action"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}