The Dutch government is in disarray:
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte offered to quit, a move that would trigger early elections, as he sought to win parliamentary support for additional budget cuts needed to steer the Netherlands clear of the debt crisis.
…
With budget deliberations dragging on since March 5, the fate of Rutte’s minority government was thrown into doubt on April 21 when Wilders and his Freedom Party unexpectedly withdrew its support over how to narrow the shortfall. That prompted Rutte to cite new elections as “an obvious scenario” to try to resolve the deadlock.In the Netherlands, the euro-area’s fifth biggest economy, the 2013 budget shortfall is currently forecast at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product. To pare it to 3 percent as specified by the European Commission, Rutte needs to find at least 9.5 billion euros of extra cuts to submit to Brussels by April 30.
“The package is way too rigorous and it’s bad for the economy,” Emile Roemer, head of the Socialist Party, which would double its seats to 30 according to latest polls, said in broadcast remarks. “We need to have elections and clarity as soon as possible.”
The opposition Labor Party is willing to cooperate with the government on preparing a complete 2013 budget only if elections are held in September, party leader Diederik Samsom told NOS television April 21. Economic growth is more important than meeting the 3 percent deficit target, Samsom said.
I mentioned a classic example of how investment managers are hired on April 18, 2011. The CalPERS story continues:
The former chief executive of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System was sued by U.S. regulators over claims he defrauded an investment firm into paying $20 million in fees to a friend’s placement agencies.
Federico Buenrostro, who served as Calpers CEO from 2002 to 2008, and his friend Alfred Villalobos, the former deputy mayor of Los Angeles, fabricated documents given to New York-based private-equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO), the Securities and Exchange Commission said today in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada. California regulators sued the two men in May 2010 over similar claims.
…
The documents gave the false impression that Calpers had reviewed and signed placement-agent fee-disclosure letters in accordance with its established procedures, the SEC said. The lawsuit also names Villalobos and his firm ARVCO Capital Research LLC as defendants.“Buenrostro and Villalobos not only tricked Apollo into paying more than $20 million in placement agent fees it would not otherwise have paid, but also undermined procedures designed to ensure that investors like Calpers have full disclosure of such fees,” John McCoy, associate regional director of the SEC’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement.
DBRS has released the Split Share Funds Quarterly Report – Q1 2012.
It was a mixed, unexciting day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums down 4bp, FixedResets up 5bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 1bp. Volatility was muted. Volume was low.
| 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 | 0.8570 % | 2,427.7 |
| FixedFloater | 4.43 % | 3.79 % | 33,588 | 17.80 | 1 | 0.1401 % | 3,559.5 |
| Floater | 2.97 % | 3.00 % | 42,610 | 19.74 | 3 | 0.8570 % | 2,621.3 |
| OpRet | 4.76 % | 2.72 % | 48,950 | 1.15 | 5 | 0.0230 % | 2,507.1 |
| SplitShare | 5.26 % | 1.48 % | 77,498 | 0.65 | 4 | -0.0843 % | 2,687.4 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0230 % | 2,292.5 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.47 % | 1.73 % | 81,031 | 0.11 | 23 | -0.0363 % | 2,224.1 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.20 % | 5.28 % | 155,073 | 15.01 | 10 | -0.0705 % | 2,401.5 |
| FixedReset | 5.02 % | 3.10 % | 192,281 | 2.19 | 67 | 0.0496 % | 2,397.3 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 4.97 % | 3.79 % | 196,016 | 1.99 | 46 | 0.0081 % | 2,307.0 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| SLF.PR.D | Deemed-Retractible | -1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.70 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| GWO.PR.H | Deemed-Retractible | -1.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.21 Bid-YTW : 5.34 % |
| BAM.PR.B | Floater | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-23 Maturity Price : 17.91 Evaluated at bid price : 17.91 Bid-YTW : 2.95 % |
| BAM.PR.C | Floater | 1.26 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-23 Maturity Price : 17.62 Evaluated at bid price : 17.62 Bid-YTW : 3.00 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| FTS.PR.E | OpRet | 117,200 | Nesbitt crossed blocks of 40,000 and 75,000, both at 26.50. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-06-01 Maturity Price : 25.75 Evaluated at bid price : 26.50 Bid-YTW : 2.72 % |
| SLF.PR.D | Deemed-Retractible | 86,180 | RBC crossed 80,000 at 22.75. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.70 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| FTS.PR.C | OpRet | 84,079 | Nesbitt crossed 75,000 at 25.60. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2012-06-01 Maturity Price : 25.25 Evaluated at bid price : 25.60 Bid-YTW : -0.25 % |
| BNS.PR.N | Deemed-Retractible | 58,935 | TD crossed 49,900 at 26.48. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-01-29 Maturity Price : 26.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.43 Bid-YTW : 2.77 % |
| RY.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | 54,515 | TD crossed 49,100 at 25.50. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2016-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.51 Bid-YTW : 3.84 % |
| ELF.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 41,200 | Recent new issue. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2042-04-23 Maturity Price : 24.56 Evaluated at bid price : 24.95 Bid-YTW : 5.55 % |
| There were 23 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| BAM.PR.K | Floater | Quote: 17.43 – 18.75 Spot Rate : 1.3200 Average : 0.8811 YTW SCENARIO |
| FTS.PR.C | OpRet | Quote: 25.60 – 25.95 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2271 YTW SCENARIO |
| RY.PR.Y | FixedReset | Quote: 26.69 – 26.95 Spot Rate : 0.2600 Average : 0.1627 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.L | Deemed-Retractible | Quote: 25.90 – 26.19 Spot Rate : 0.2900 Average : 0.2054 YTW SCENARIO |
| CM.PR.K | FixedReset | Quote: 26.21 – 26.61 Spot Rate : 0.4000 Average : 0.3288 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.80 – 26.03 Spot Rate : 0.2300 Average : 0.1596 YTW SCENARIO |