{"id":27433,"date":"2015-01-09T20:38:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-10T01:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=27433"},"modified":"2015-01-09T20:38:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-10T01:38:26","slug":"january-9-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=27433","title":{"rendered":"January 9, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s very fashionable to send people to special classes when they’re caught doing something naughty, with the apparent attitude that there’s no such thing as badness, only ignorance. I’ve always thought this was a wonderful example of preciousness and now I’ve got a perfect counterexample<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Dartmouth College accused 64 students of cheating in a sports ethics class last semester, the latest in a string of cases of academic dishonesty involving athletes at elite U.S. colleges.<\/p>\n

Students used a hand-held device known as a clicker to answer questions for classmates who were absent, according to Randall Balmer, who teaches the class, \u201cSports, Ethics and Religion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DF.PR.A was confirmed at Pfd-3(low) by DBRS<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Since the last rating confirmation in January 2014, the NAV of the Company has been increasing. As of December 31, 2014, the downside protection available to the Preferred Shares is approximately 40.6%, and the dividend coverage ratio is 0.81 times. The Pfd-3 (low) rating of the Preferred Shares is based primarily on the downside protection available and the additional protection provided by an asset coverage test, which does not permit any distributions to holders of the Class A Shares if the NAV of the Company falls below $15.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

FTN.PR.A was confirmed at Pfd-4(high) by DBRS<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Since the last rating confirmation in January 2014, the NAV of the Company has improved slightly, despite volatility in the markets during the year. Downside protection available to holders of the Preferred Shares rose to 43.4% as of December 31, 2014, from 42.2% on December 31, 2013. Despite the increased downside protection, the current dividend coverage ratio of around 0.46 and the reinstatement of Class A Share distributions result in an average grind of approximately 11% over the next two years. As a result, the rating has been confirmed at Pfd-4 (high).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was a mixed day for the Canadian preferred shares market, with both PerpetualDiscounts and DeemedRetractibles off 5bp, while FixedResets were up 22bp. The volatility table was longer than normal, but indicative of nothing like the extreme volatility of the past month-odd. Volume was below average.<\/p>\n

For as long as the FixedReset market is so violently unsettled, I\u2019ll keep publishing updates of the more interesting and meaningful series of FixedResets\u2019 Implied Volatilities. This doesn\u2019t include Enbridge because although Enbridge has a large number of issues outstanding, all of which are quite liquid, the range of Issue Reset Spreads is too small for decent conclusions. The low is 212bp (ENB.PR.H; second-lowest is ENB.PR.D at 237bp) and the high is a mere 268 for ENB.PF.G.<\/p>\n

Remember that all rich \/cheap assessments are:<\/p>\n