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The S&P500 traded in a range of 2727 to 2842 last week before closing the week at 2837–which was about 1.3% lower than the close the previous Friday. The 10 year treasury closed last week at .60% which was below the close of .65% the previous week…

I keep watching corporate news to see what is shaking in some of the companies of interest to me (and maybe you). Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) borrowed $40 million this week paying a coupon of 8% for the 3 year note. Guess they won’t be calling any of theo…

Finally after waiting for weeks we are seeing some good news–or at least ‘hopeful’ news. States are beginning to slowly reopen some businesses–and this at least gives me more hope than the daily beat down of terrible stories. On the other hand it may…

Yesterday, and again today, we are seeing a slow realization of the severe economic being done in the U.S. and globally by the Covid-19 pandemic. Today equity markets are off a couple percentage points–but still 20% off of the March lows. Yesterday op…

I should turn off CNBC–normally I do not have a TV on in the office–just a bunch of noise, but for whatever reason I have it on now. I guess the opinions on where equities are heading is pretty much split 50-50–markets are going higher to markets ar…

Last week the S&P500 opened up the week at 2782, hit a low at 2721 and a high of 2879 and finally closed the week at 2874–a gain of over 3%. The 10 year treasury traded in a range of .58% to .76% before closing the week at .65% The Fed Balance She…

CLO holder Eagle Point Credit Co (ECC) has released their monthly update. In the update which can be found here the company shows a Net Asset Value (NAV) of $6.07-$6.17 per share. Last month the company showed a NAV of $9.80 to $9.90 per share–a loss…

Lousy economic data?? Pretty much an understatement as we now have more than 20 million unemployment claims in the last month. Housing starts tumbled fairly hard in March, before the Covid-19 related issues hit really hard–April will be pretty bad no…

The domino’s are starting to fall–one by one. I believe the retail sales numbers, which were disastrous, are trumpeting the hell to come. The printing presses are way too small to overcome the decimation. Today Best Buy (BBY) finally furloughed 51,000…

I give up on trying to predict these markets–I heard predictions yesterday and today of end of year SP500 values of 2,500 and I heard one of 3,700. 1 is a RECORD high and the other is 10-15% below current levels. Personally I am highly suspect of curr…

A few times a year I search through the various Gabelli Closed End Funds SEC reports to check the leverage ratios so I can update the CEF preferred spreadsheet with leverage ratios. As most of you know closed end funds must have an asset coverage ratio…

The softer market today has opened a few opportunities for conservative folks. The 5% Tri-Continental preferred (TY-P) has fallen back on lite volume–I bought 100 shares at $54.85–I see it wants to go a little lower. This $50 issue is callable at $55…