June 18, 2012

The Europeans have a grave problem: they’re being criticized by parties they don’t regulate:

Tensions between Europe and the rest of the G20 broke wide open in Los Cabos as the president of the European Commission laid bare his frustration with the constant lecturing from outsiders, including Canada.

The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, reacted tersely when asked to respond to recent comments from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Europe does not need outside help to stabilize its economy.

“Frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy and in terms of how to run an economy because the European Union has a model that we may be very proud of,” Mr. Barroso said.

Maybe … maybe the EU should regulate Canadian politicians, as well as the Credit Rating Agencies! Yeah! Yeah, that would be good!

The Greek election has only shifted the focus in Europe:

Spanish bonds slid, propelling 10- year yields to more than 7 percent, after yesterday’s Greek election failed to convince investors that politicians will be able to tame Europe’s financial woes.

Italian debt also fell and German bunds rose, reversing earlier declines. Spain’s yields climbed to euro-era records as a report today showed the nation’s bad loans increased in April. The securities tumbled last week after the bloc’s fourth-largest economy requested as much as 100 billion euros ($126 billion) of aid on June 9 to support its banks. Greek bonds rose after pro- bailout parties won enough seats to control parliament.

The greenback is cementing its status as a reserve currency:

Central banks rebuilding foreign- exchange reserves at the fastest pace since 2004 are crowding out private investors seeking U.S. dollars, boosting demand even as the Federal Reserve considers printing more currency.

After falling to an all-time low of 60.5 percent in the second quarter of last year, the dollar’s share of global reserves rose 1.6 percentage points to 62.1 percent in December, the latest International Monetary Fund figures show. The buying has left the private sector with $2 trillion less than it needs, according to investment-flow data by Morgan Stanley, which sees the dollar gaining 8.2 percent in 2012, the most in seven years.

While the Fed has created more than $2 trillion under its stimulus programs since 2008, the flows signal that there may actually be a shortage of dollars to meet demand as Europe’s debt crisis deepens and the global economy slows.

ING Canada got downgraded:

The cauldron of financial turmoil bubbling over in Europe is now seeing its hot water trickle into Canada. Late Friday, rating agency Moody’s Investors Service announced the downgrade of ING Bank of Canada’s senior deposit ratings from Baa1 from A2.

This comes on the heels of the rating agency’s downgrade of ING’s parent, ING Bank NV, to C- for financial strength.

Small investors prone to panic are reminded that ING Bank Canada is a CDIC member and that:

Up to $100,000 of your savings are eligible for deposit insurance offered by CDIC. Your savings must be:
Held in…
A Eligible deposits—for example, savings, chequing and GICs of 5 years or less
+ Held at…
B Banks and other financial institutions—eligible deposits must be held at a CDIC member.
+ And held in…
C Canadian dollars—U.S. dollar and other foreign currency deposits are not eligible.

Meanwhile, in the True North Strong and Free Google reports:

We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet. We did not comply with this request.

And we have problems even talking about trade:

Canada’s bid to join was hampered by the slow progress it made at enacting stronger prohibitions against the theft of digital intellectual property as well as its staunch protectionism for dairy and poultry producers who are shielded from foreign competition.

Another one of What-Debt’s favourite companies is going to do again what it does best:

Pension woes are back at the top of Air Canada’s concerns as the carrier seeks a new reprieve from retirement funding to avert a looming financial crisis.

Faced with a cash crunch in 2014, the country’s largest airline is preparing to ask Ottawa for another moratorium on company contributions to pensions, and to request other measures to ease the pressure.

The Montreal-based carrier’s pension solvency deficit stood at $2.1-billion on Jan. 1, 2011, and analysts expect the airline to report a sharply higher deficit for Jan. 1, 2012.

BBD.PR.D got whacked again today, down 1.42 to close at 14.93. Strangely, BBD.PR.B, the RatchetRate issue with which it interconverts effective August 1, was also hammered, down 0.65 to close at 14.30. The interconversion has been discussed on PrefBlog; BBD.PR.D will reset to 255% of GoC5 – which at current levels will be only a hair above 3%.

It was a mildly positive day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums winning 9bp, FixedResets up 1bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 3bp. Volatility was muted. Volume was very 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 -0.2201 % 2,304.0
FixedFloater 4.46 % 3.85 % 22,195 17.59 1 0.0000 % 3,534.7
Floater 3.16 % 3.15 % 72,314 19.37 3 -0.2201 % 2,487.7
OpRet 4.81 % 2.46 % 37,911 1.01 5 0.0465 % 2,507.2
SplitShare 5.29 % -5.86 % 44,176 0.50 4 -0.5314 % 2,705.6
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0465 % 2,292.6
Perpetual-Premium 5.42 % 2.83 % 89,677 0.57 27 0.0858 % 2,232.5
Perpetual-Discount 5.06 % 5.06 % 116,856 15.29 7 -0.3256 % 2,440.9
FixedReset 5.05 % 3.21 % 205,686 7.86 71 0.0104 % 2,390.6
Deemed-Retractible 5.02 % 3.94 % 149,832 2.94 45 0.0318 % 2,304.6
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
FBS.PR.C SplitShare -2.50 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-12-15
Maturity Price : 10.00
Evaluated at bid price : 10.54
Bid-YTW : -5.86 %
SLF.PR.F FixedReset -1.06 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.06
Bid-YTW : 3.75 %
POW.PR.A Perpetual-Premium 1.02 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-07-18
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.68
Bid-YTW : -14.66 %
FTS.PR.H FixedReset 1.12 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-06-18
Maturity Price : 23.52
Evaluated at bid price : 25.38
Bid-YTW : 2.63 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
CU.PR.D Perpetual-Premium 518,880 New issue settled today.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-06-18
Maturity Price : 24.64
Evaluated at bid price : 25.03
Bid-YTW : 4.90 %
BNS.PR.P FixedReset 84,381 National crossed 82,600 at 25.57.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.51
Bid-YTW : 3.19 %
BMO.PR.Q FixedReset 44,417 TD crossed 33,000 at 25.30.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.33
Bid-YTW : 2.92 %
FTS.PR.E OpRet 33,500 TD crossed 33,000 at 26.64.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 26.45
Bid-YTW : 2.12 %
RY.PR.T FixedReset 33,010 RBC crossed 25,000 at 26.75.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-08-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.73
Bid-YTW : 3.17 %
MFC.PR.I FixedReset 22,470 Recent new issue.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.79
Bid-YTW : 4.41 %
There were 13 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
FBS.PR.C SplitShare Quote: 10.54 – 10.88
Spot Rate : 0.3400
Average : 0.2084

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-12-15
Maturity Price : 10.00
Evaluated at bid price : 10.54
Bid-YTW : -5.86 %

BAM.PR.M Perpetual-Discount Quote: 23.11 – 23.60
Spot Rate : 0.4900
Average : 0.3610

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-06-18
Maturity Price : 22.68
Evaluated at bid price : 23.11
Bid-YTW : 5.13 %

CM.PR.D Perpetual-Premium Quote: 26.07 – 26.39
Spot Rate : 0.3200
Average : 0.2109

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-07-18
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.07
Bid-YTW : -32.93 %

GWO.PR.J FixedReset Quote: 26.00 – 26.29
Spot Rate : 0.2900
Average : 0.2011

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-12-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.00
Bid-YTW : 3.20 %

BAM.PR.G FixedFloater Quote: 21.30 – 21.67
Spot Rate : 0.3700
Average : 0.2855

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-06-18
Maturity Price : 22.16
Evaluated at bid price : 21.30
Bid-YTW : 3.85 %

SLF.PR.I FixedReset Quote: 25.10 – 25.30
Spot Rate : 0.2000
Average : 0.1258

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-12-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.10
Bid-YTW : 4.02 %

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