March 5, 2014

There is confusion at the Bank of England:

The Bank of England suspended a member of staff as it conducts a probe into allegations that officials condoned practices behind the currency-manipulation scandal.

While the BOE said it has found no evidence to date of collusion, it requires staff “to follow rigorous internal control processes and has today suspended a member of staff, pending investigation.” No decision has been taken on disciplinary action against any employees, it said.

Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 7 that senior currency dealers at banks including Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG told BOE officials at an April 2012 meeting that they discussed positions ahead of key benchmarks and matched buyers and sellers ahead of the fix to avoid trading then. Central bank representatives said they viewed the practices as positive to reduce market volatility and banks should formulate their own policies, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The Bank of Canada claims our economy’s not getting any worse:

In Canada, economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 was slightly stronger than the Bank anticipated, and upward revisions earlier in the year further raised the level of GDP. The Bank still expects underlying growth of around 2 1/2 per cent in 2014, with the current quarter likely to be softer. Exports have been a little stronger than previously thought but continue to underperform, and overall business investment has yet to pick up. Meanwhile, recent data support the Bank’s expectation of a soft landing in the housing market and stabilizing debt-to-income ratios for households.

On the whole, the fundamental drivers of growth and inflation in Canada continue to strengthen gradually, as anticipated. With inflation expected to be well below target for some time, the downside risks to inflation remain important. At the same time, the risks associated with elevated household imbalances have not materially changed. The Bank judges that the balance of risks remains within the zone for which the current stance of monetary policy is appropriate and therefore has decided to maintain the target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The timing and direction of the next change to the policy rate will depend on how new information influences this balance of risks.

If there’s one thing welfare bums hate, it’s answering questions:

Chrysler Group LLC walked away from talks with the federal and Ontario governments after they asked how much of its proposed $3.6-billion investment would be spent in Ontario – a request that was likely to draw out negotiations and delay the company’s effort to bring a new minivan to market.

The federal government and the province sent Chrysler a joint letter and term sheets that offered to put up money as a percentage of the investment the company would be spending in Ontario, a source with knowledge of the talks said.

But those terms didn’t appear to sit well with Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne.

It was a modestly positive day for the Canadian preferred shares market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 4bp, FixedResets gaining 1bp and DeemedRetractibles winning 5bp. Volatility was very low. Volume was average.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.53%, equivalent to 7.19% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield about 4.5%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 270bp, unchanged from the February 26 report.

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 0.4579 % 2,419.6
FixedFloater 4.58 % 3.85 % 27,855 17.70 1 1.0234 % 3,703.2
Floater 2.99 % 3.14 % 54,653 19.31 4 0.4579 % 2,612.5
OpRet 4.62 % -0.66 % 67,889 0.24 3 0.0257 % 2,692.2
SplitShare 4.85 % 4.54 % 54,288 4.34 5 0.0482 % 3,051.9
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0257 % 2,461.7
Perpetual-Premium 5.63 % -0.94 % 94,015 0.09 12 0.0230 % 2,349.4
Perpetual-Discount 5.49 % 5.53 % 137,568 14.57 26 0.0352 % 2,417.5
FixedReset 4.71 % 3.53 % 229,591 6.80 77 0.0084 % 2,505.0
Deemed-Retractible 5.08 % 3.28 % 167,171 0.39 42 0.0484 % 2,457.8
FloatingReset 2.59 % 2.58 % 192,174 7.13 5 0.0402 % 2,442.3
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
BAM.PR.G FixedFloater 1.02 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2044-03-05
Maturity Price : 21.46
Evaluated at bid price : 20.73
Bid-YTW : 3.85 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
TD.PR.G FixedReset 193,168 Nesbitt crossed 100,000 at 25.31; RBC crossed 50,000 and TD crossed 35,000 at the same price.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-04-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.31
Bid-YTW : 1.72 %
BNS.PR.Z FixedReset 89,977 TD crossed 75,000 at 23.80.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 23.76
Bid-YTW : 3.96 %
TD.PR.E FixedReset 82,735 RBC crossed 50,000 at 25.31; Scotia crossed 32,000 at the same price.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-04-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.33
Bid-YTW : 1.20 %
BNS.PR.Y FixedReset 80,616 TD crossed 75,000 at 23.85.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 23.77
Bid-YTW : 3.60 %
TRP.PR.D FixedReset 67,153 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2044-03-05
Maturity Price : 23.14
Evaluated at bid price : 24.98
Bid-YTW : 3.91 %
MFC.PR.L FixedReset 63,750 recent new issue.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.30
Bid-YTW : 4.19 %
There were 33 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
TD.PR.Q Deemed-Retractible Quote: 26.21 – 26.48
Spot Rate : 0.2700
Average : 0.1561

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-04-04
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 26.21
Bid-YTW : -10.11 %

MFC.PR.A OpRet Quote: 25.53 – 25.74
Spot Rate : 0.2100
Average : 0.1274

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-06-19
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.53
Bid-YTW : -0.29 %

PWF.PR.A Floater Quote: 19.70 – 20.15
Spot Rate : 0.4500
Average : 0.3889

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2044-03-05
Maturity Price : 19.70
Evaluated at bid price : 19.70
Bid-YTW : 2.68 %

ELF.PR.H Perpetual-Discount Quote: 24.00 – 24.20
Spot Rate : 0.2000
Average : 0.1399

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2044-03-05
Maturity Price : 23.62
Evaluated at bid price : 24.00
Bid-YTW : 5.80 %

CU.PR.C FixedReset Quote: 25.43 – 25.70
Spot Rate : 0.2700
Average : 0.2100

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.43
Bid-YTW : 3.46 %

CGI.PR.D SplitShare Quote: 24.67 – 24.99
Spot Rate : 0.3200
Average : 0.2671

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Soft Maturity
Maturity Date : 2023-06-14
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.67
Bid-YTW : 3.93 %

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