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MetLife (MET) has priced their new non-cumulative perpetual preferred with a rock bottom coupon. The issue priced at 4.75%. The issue is not the lowest we have seen in recent months, but at 4.75% I am not a likely buyer. Recently 2 recent issues from P…

Sometimes we hesitate even posting items like these–most of the times they turn out to be meaningless. On the other hand better to post than anyone get a surprise. 1st off I am not an expert on repurchase agreements that the Federal Reserve executes,…

While common stocks are off a bit, no doubt because of uncertainty in the middle east, interest rates and correspondingly preferred stocks and baby bonds are dead flat. Income issues are so flat that for 3 days in a row (up until 11 a.m. central) today…

Large insurance company MetLife (MET) will be selling a new perpetual preferred issue. This issue will have an early redemption in 2025. The company has 2 other perpetual preferreds outstanding which can be seen here. The new issue will be investment g…

Utility Southern Company (SO) has priced their new issue of baby bonds. The issue priced at 4.95%, disappointing, but not surprising that it is under 5%. The company will sell 40 millions shares (bonds) and they will carry a Baa3 from Moodys, BBB from…

The Enhanced High Yield Model Portfolio continues to perform almost exactly as designed. Remember this is simply an educational tool–one that demonstrates LONG TERM performance of a portfolio of relatively high yield preferred stocks and baby bonds. T…

UPDATE–as noted in the comments below the SEC Filing is now in. This is a very typical issue, with a early call date in 2025 and a maturity in 2080. The preliminary prospectus can be read here. Giant utility Southern Company (SO) will be selling a iss…

Markets are likely to trade in a wider than normal range this week-stocks and interest rates. Regardless of what fundamental data we see this week, the middle east situation will likely dominate the news and thus affect the markets. Historically these…

It was an interesting day of trading–although not really much movement after the 1st hour or so–at least in stocks. The 10 year treasury closed at 1.79%, which is a good bit lower than the 1.87% to 1.94% range we had been trading in for the last coup…

Just a quick blurp that if you see Matt McPartland in site comments just know that he is my son. Matt will be helping to keep up with comments–while I don’t moderate them too closely I do try to skim through–in particular for ‘errors and omissions’ r…

While there was a time when I would react to global war type situations, time and time again, they have meant little to income investors. The situation in Baghdad yesterday (the killing of the top Iranian general) brings out a ‘knee jerk’ reaction with…

I left the office for 90 minutes today and was really pretty shocked to see a near 1% gain in equities–so indexes were already pretty darned high–so let’s stretch them further I guess. Oh well I don’t buy common stock any longer so it doesn’t really…