{"id":21249,"date":"2013-03-05T00:40:22","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T04:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prefblog.com\/?p=21249"},"modified":"2013-03-05T00:40:22","modified_gmt":"2013-03-05T04:40:22","slug":"march-4-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=21249","title":{"rendered":"March 4, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Gimein writes an interesting piece titled The Reason Wall Street Got So Rich in Two Charts<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The New York City data, though, are compelling. University of Chicago economists Steven N. Kaplan and Joshua Rauh have theorized that the main reason for the rise in Wall Street pay is that \u201casset managers, investment bankers, lawyers, and top executives now apply their talent to much larger pools of assets.\u201d The bonus charts support that explanation.<\/p>\n

You can argue about whether there\u2019s something special about those folks, or whether they\u2019ve just gotten lucky. You can\u2019t argue with the math, which shows unequivocally that income at the top is growing because essentially the same number of people are splitting greater profits.<\/p>\n

Next week I expect I\u2019ll take a more careful look at this, moving beyond New York City. There are other factors to consider, like the drop in the city\u2019s share of industry employment from about 30 percent in 1992 to 21 percent now. Nonetheless, I suspect the general principle that the jobs at the top of the economic ladder are becoming ever more lucrative as their industries scale up without adding staff will hold up. If so, that reveals some truths uncomfortable for both sides in the debate over incomes at the top. For the harshest critics of Wall Street. the fewer employees\/more profits explanation isn\u2019t exactly the cloak-and-dagger conspiracy they might wish for.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, for those who think that all is just hunky-dory on the inequality front, this isn\u2019t exactly a pleasing result either. Fewer people sharing more profits means Wall Street employees may be more \u201cproductive\u201d \u2014 but not in any way that non-economists understand that word. It\u2019s not that they work harder or have somehow gotten vastly smarter. It\u2019s just that it doesn\u2019t take many more people to do a $300 million deal than a $50 million. That basic fact does a lot to explain why incomes on Wall Street have grown. It doesn\u2019t do anything to make it seem fair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fitch is gloomy on Canadian housing prices<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Canadian home prices are overvalued by about 20 per cent, Fitch Ratings says.<\/p>\n

The rating agency\u2019s estimate of how inflated prices are was included Monday in details of a new financial model that it is proposing to use to estimate the potential losses on pools of residential mortgages, which form the backbone of a number of securities that Fitch rates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Naturally, every sleazebag politician in town<\/a> is blaming the banks:<\/p>\n

>Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is issuing a warning to the country\u2019s banks, as stiff competition for mortgage customers is prompting lenders to cut rates heading into the key spring home-buying season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation is that banks will engage in prudent lending \u2013 not the type of \u2018race to the bottom\u2019 practices that led to a mortgage crisis in the United States,\u201d Mr. Flaherty said in a statement to the Globe on Sunday, after Bank of Montreal reduced its price on five-year fixed-rate mortgages to 2.99 per cent from 3.09 per cent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course the lending will be prudent, chum – given that you are providing virtually unlimited mortgage insurance.<\/p>\n

A new fund has started marketting …. North American Preferred Share Advantage Fund<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Portfolio will be managed by Fiera Capital Corporation (\u201cFiera\u201d or the \u201cPortfolio Manager\u201d).<\/p>\n

In order to seek to achieve the Fund\u2019s objectives, the Fund will invest the net proceeds of the Offering as follows: (i) at least 20% and up to 100% of the Fund\u2019s assets, together with borrowings under the Fund\u2019s loan facility or prime brokerage facility, will be invested in an actively managed, diversified portfolio consisting principally of Canadian preferred shares (the \u201cCanadian Preferred Share Portfolio\u201d); and (ii) the remainder of the Fund\u2019s assets will be invested to provide leveraged, tax-advantaged exposure to the U.S. Preferred Share Portfolio.
…<\/b>
Fiera is one of the largest independent money managers in Canada with over $58 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2012, including over $36 billion in fixed income assets. Fiera is also one of the largest preferred share managers in Canada with approximately $1.75 billion in preferred securities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Independent” is a bit of a stretch<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Fiera Capital Corporation (TSX: FSZ) (\u201cFiera\u201d or the \u201cFirm\u201d) ) and National Bank of Canada (\u201cNational Bank\u201d or the \u201cBank\u201d) (TSX: NA) announced today the closing of the transaction under which Fiera will acquire substantially all of the assets of Natcan Investment Management Inc. (“Natcan”) from the Bank for $309.5 million subject to reduction (\u201cthe Acquisition\u201d). In return, the Bank, through Natcan, will receive 19,732,299 Class A subordinate voting shares of the share capital of Fiera (the \u201cClass A shares\u201d) as well as a cash payment of $85,553,219.
…<\/b>
The 19,732,299 Class A Shares (the \u201cConsideration Shares\u201d) over which the Bank exercises control and direction represent approximately 56.11% of the issued and outstanding Class A Shares and 35% of the total number of Class A Shares and Class B special voting shares in the capital of Fiera issued and outstanding. The Bank also received an option to acquire additional Class A Shares of Fiera at a market price determined on the day of exercise, equal to 2.5% of total shares outstanding at the end of September in each of 2013 and 2014. If the options are fully exercised, the Bank will own 40% of the outstanding shares of Fiera. The Bank will also be entitled to protect its ownership in Fiera pursuant to anti-dilution rights<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was a good solid day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums gaining 2bp, FixedResets up 8bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 10bp. Volatility was average, skewed to the upside; volume was below average but dominated by FixedResets, presumably due to the TRP.PR.D new issue<\/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>\n-0.5339 %<\/td>\n2,594.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FixedFloater<\/td>\n4.04 %<\/td>\n3.30 %<\/td>\n23,155<\/td>\n18.48<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1.9489 %<\/td>\n4,029.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Floater<\/td>\n2.56 %<\/td>\n2.86 %<\/td>\n77,745<\/td>\n20.01<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n-0.5339 %<\/td>\n2,801.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
OpRet<\/td>\n4.81 %<\/td>\n2.90 %<\/td>\n45,027<\/td>\n0.32<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n-0.1777 %<\/td>\n2,592.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SplitShare<\/td>\n4.60 %<\/td>\n4.54 %<\/td>\n45,614<\/td>\n4.24<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0.0400 %<\/td>\n2,928.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Interest-Bearing<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0.00 %<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.00<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n-0.1777 %<\/td>\n2,370.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perpetual-Premium<\/td>\n5.21 %<\/td>\n1.45 %<\/td>\n84,823<\/td>\n0.16<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n0.0175 %<\/td>\n2,355.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perpetual-Discount<\/td>\n4.83 %<\/td>\n4.88 %<\/td>\n133,474<\/td>\n15.61<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n0.1421 %<\/td>\n2,652.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FixedReset<\/td>\n4.91 %<\/td>\n2.74 %<\/td>\n281,604<\/td>\n3.54<\/td>\n80<\/td>\n0.0796 %<\/td>\n2,498.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deemed-Retractible<\/td>\n4.87 %<\/td>\n2.53 %<\/td>\n141,848<\/td>\n0.32<\/td>\n44<\/td>\n0.0970 %<\/td>\n2,445.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Performance Highlights<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Issue<\/td>\nIndex<\/td>\nChange<\/td>\nNotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TRI.PR.B<\/td>\nFloater<\/td>\n-3.63 %<\/td>\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 23.07
\nEvaluated at bid price : 23.33
\nBid-YTW : 2.24 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PWF.PR.A<\/td>\nFloater<\/td>\n1.02 %<\/td>\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 23.49
\nEvaluated at bid price : 23.76
\nBid-YTW : 2.19 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MFC.PR.H<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n1.15 %<\/td>\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2017-03-19
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 26.50
\nBid-YTW : 2.98 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BAM.PR.G<\/td>\nFixedFloater<\/td>\n1.95 %<\/td>\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 22.76
\nEvaluated at bid price : 23.54
\nBid-YTW : 3.30 %<\/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
TRP.PR.D<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n1,497,865<\/td>\nNew issue settled today<\/a>.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 23.23
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.40
\nBid-YTW : 3.50 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BNS.PR.X<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n204,450<\/td>\nCIBC sold three blocks to Scotia of 24,900 shares, 49,000 and 18,000, all at 26.33. CIBC sold another four blocks to TD, of 19,000 shares, 30,000 shares, 10,000 and 25,000, all at 26.34; and finally sold another 15,000 to TD at 26.33.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2014-04-25
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 26.32
\nBid-YTW : 2.04 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PWF.PR.S<\/td>\nPerpetual-Discount<\/td>\n118,482<\/td>\nRecent new issue<\/a>.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 24.58
\nEvaluated at bid price : 24.97
\nBid-YTW : 4.81 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ENB.PR.T<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n55,241<\/td>\nScotia crossed 40,000 at 25.50.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 23.28
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.60
\nBid-YTW : 3.55 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BNS.PR.P<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n45,076<\/td>\nTD crossed 40,000 at 25.15.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Hard Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2022-01-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.14
\nBid-YTW : 3.27 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BAM.PF.A<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\n35,604<\/td>\nNational crossed 25,000 at 26.32.
\nYTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2018-09-30
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 26.37
\nBid-YTW : 3.58 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
There were 26 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
TRI.PR.B<\/td>\nFloater<\/td>\nQuote: 23.33 – 24.40
\nSpot Rate : 1.0700
\nAverage : 0.6220<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 23.07
\nEvaluated at bid price : 23.33
\nBid-YTW : 2.24 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

BAM.PR.C<\/td>\nFloater<\/td>\nQuote: 18.49 – 19.00
\nSpot Rate : 0.5100
\nAverage : 0.3222<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 18.49
\nEvaluated at bid price : 18.49
\nBid-YTW : 2.86 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

FTS.PR.G<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\nQuote: 25.01 – 25.25
\nSpot Rate : 0.2400
\nAverage : 0.1758<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Limit Maturity
\nMaturity Date\t: 2043-03-04
\nMaturity Price : 24.51
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.01
\nBid-YTW : 3.33 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

CM.PR.K<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\nQuote: 26.06 – 26.30
\nSpot Rate : 0.2400
\nAverage : 0.1859<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2014-07-31
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 26.06
\nBid-YTW : 2.64 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

RY.PR.L<\/td>\nFixedReset<\/td>\nQuote: 25.77 – 25.99
\nSpot Rate : 0.2200
\nAverage : 0.1686<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2014-02-24
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.77
\nBid-YTW : 2.55 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

RY.PR.E<\/td>\nDeemed-Retractible<\/td>\nQuote: 25.75 – 25.93
\nSpot Rate : 0.1800
\nAverage : 0.1322<\/p>\n

YTW SCENARIO
\nMaturity Type : Call
\nMaturity Date\t: 2016-02-24
\nMaturity Price : 25.00
\nEvaluated at bid price : 25.75
\nBid-YTW : 3.49 %<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Gimein writes an interesting piece titled The Reason Wall Street Got So Rich in Two Charts: The New York City data, though, are compelling. University of Chicago economists Steven N. Kaplan and Joshua Rauh …<\/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-21249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-action"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249","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=21249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}