{"id":27060,"date":"2014-12-09T05:03:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T10:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=27060"},"modified":"2014-12-09T05:03:14","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T10:03:14","slug":"december-8-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=27060","title":{"rendered":"December 8, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assiduous Reader JP, who often sends me interesting snippets, unlike youse other bums<\/u>, brings to my attention a small preferred share issue from China<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will issue US$5.7 billion worth of preferred shares in three currencies in what will be the largest offshore issuance of hybrid securities from a mainland firm.<\/p>\n

ICBC proposed issuing US$2.94 billion in dollar-denominated shares, \u20ac600 million (HK$5.73 billion) and 12 billion yuan (HK$15.13 billion) all priced at 6 per cent, according to a regulatory filing.<\/p>\n

The shares will count as additional tier-1 capital, boosting the bank\u2019s capital adequacy ratio as defined by Basel III, an international accord aimed at raising the viability of banks and avoiding public bailouts.<\/p>\n

The record deal also marked the first time a mainland bank issued offshore preferred shares denominated in three currencies.<\/p>\n

ICBC International was the sole global coordinator and UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs were joint book-runners on the deal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s nice to see some real progress on solar power efficiency<\/a>:<\/p>\n

UNSW’s solar researchers have converted over 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity, the highest efficiency ever reported.<\/p>\n

The world-beating efficiency was achieved in outdoor tests in Sydney, before being independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States.<\/p>\n

The work was funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and supported by the Australia\u2013US Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics (AUSIAPV).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the highest efficiency ever reported for sunlight conversion into electricity,\u201d UNSW Scientia Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) Professor Martin Green said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The price wasn’t mentioned, but the basic idea comes first, right? Then give it to the engineers to make it cheap. Too bad this research wasn’t done in Ontari-ari-ari-owe, but we blew our solar budget on political grandstanding.<\/p>\n

After posting the MAPF November statements, I posted the following on the Canada Post Facebook Page<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I just sent a batch of letters with Madonna & Child stamps when a thought struck me and caused me to check your website.<\/p>\n

I see your “Holiday 2014” collection is dominated by Santa Claus – rather childish in my view, but the important thing is that they are stamps and you stick them on letters and they get delivered.<\/p>\n

But why are there no stamps with an Islamic theme? No Jewish stamps? No stamps for Kwanzai, Bohdi Day, Pancha Ganapati or Yule? It would make things more interesting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was an awful day for equities<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Oil, bank and raw-materials are the biggest laggards in Canada for the first time since at least 1988, fueling concern the nation\u2019s economy is fading just as the U.S. is taking off.<\/p>\n

The three industries, which collectively account for two-thirds of the Standard & Poor\u2019s\/TSX Composite Index, are the worst performers among 10 groups this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The nation\u2019s largest banks joined oil and materials in a rout that erased 4.1 percent from the benchmark index in three days, including the biggest one-day retreat since June 2013.<\/p>\n

The selloff in the biggest pillars of the Canadian equity market comes as data showing a weaker jobs market coupled with slowing exports suggest a tentative economic recovery. Banks have slumped as earnings last week collectively missed estimates amid declining trading revenue and sluggish consumer borrowing. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index has reached all-time highs on signs of accelerating growth.
…<\/b>
The S&P 500\/TSX tumbled 329.53 points, or 2.3 percent, to 14,144.17 yesterday as the selloff in oil accelerated, with energy companies plunging the most since August 2011 as crude dropped to a five-year low.
…<\/b>
The Canadian benchmark equity gauge has plunged 9.7 percent since reaching a record on Sept. 3, wiping out more than C$270 billion in market value and reducing its gain for the year to 3.8 percent. The S&P\/TSX, which was the second-best performing market among developed nations through the first half of the year, now ranks 16th.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Happy crowds of preferred share investors held parades for their portfolios today.<\/p>\n

\"funeralProcession\"<\/a>
Click for Big<\/i><\/div>\n

And with TXPR and TXPL down 0.76% and 0.96%, why not?<\/p>\n

It was an appallingly poor day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts off 24bp, FixedResets losing 85bp and DeemedRetractibles down 36bp. There is a very lengthy list of losers, dominated by FixedResets. Volume was high.<\/p>\n

And given these massive changes, let’s have another look at some pictures of Implied Volatility. Remember that all rich \/cheap assessments are<\/p>\n