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Sortable Spreadsheet – All $25/Share Issues

Below you can find instructions for the sortable $25 master list (baby bonds and preferreds stocks)–finally after months of being too busy to get this updated I have all but a few issues now included–I hope to get the last few added within a week.

If you already ‘know the ropes’ on this spreadsheet you can go right to the spreadsheet here.

Version 1—12/16/2019

Version 2 —2/15/2020

Version 3—3/4/2020

Version 4–7/29/2020

NOTE THAT NEW VERSIONS HAVE CALLED ISSUES REMOVED AND NEW ISSUES ADDED

UNTIL THE NEXT VERSION IS RELEASED (60-90 DAYS) NEW ISSUES ARE NOT ADDED UNLESS YOU DO IT ON THE COPY YOU MAKE

Please NOTE that this will not work with EXCEL only Google Sheets.

  1. You need a Google Account to use this sheet correctly. Go here to set up an account if you do not have one. While an account gives you gmail and other apps it importantly gives you an account for accessing and using Google Sheets.
  2. After creating an account with Google make sure you are signed in.
  3. Go the the sortable spreadsheet which you can find here.
  4. Once you open the spreadsheet as long as you are logged into your Google account the spreadsheet will automatically be in your spreadsheet list.
  5. You will see that when you open the spreadsheet it will say ‘view only’.
  6. Make a copy of the sheet for yourself–go to File, Make a Copy then give it the name you want.
  7. You will now be able to use own copy to sort etc.

Note that there are 3 sheets to the spreadsheet–I have hidden 2 which are not needed by you unless you wish to make changes. The tab you need is labeled “Filter”.

Unless you are very well versed in Google Sheets I would suggest not modifying the other 2 pages–BUT if you are like me and just can’t help yourself you can always come back here if you ‘break’ the sheet.

mREIT Results Looking Good – For Now

Mortgage REITs (mREIT) are releasing earnings and at least on the surface earnings are fairly stellar–although one needs to drill down a bit into the various special gains and losses within the earnings statements.

On Tuesday giant mREIT AGNC (AGNC) reported earnings and reported book values that were $1.30/share above those reported at Q1 end.

Today much smaller mREIT Dynex Capital (DX) reported earnings which were bolstered by large gains on sale of investments, although the company’s book value per share fell by $1.32/share

Of course these 2 company’s have preferred stock issues outstanding with current yields in the 7-8% area. We have a page of the mREIT preferreds here.

Later today we will have sector giant Annaly Capital (NLY) announce earnings.

For those investors with a tolerance for higher risk these are the best current yields in the preferred stock world (excepting some lodging REITs, which may not be around in a year). Maybe a small ‘taste’ of some of these preferreds is in order?

AGNC’s earnings release can be read here.

The Dynex earnings can be read about here.

Consumer Confidence Drops

In a fairly important signal that consumers may well begin to retrench in their spending Consumer Confidence Index fell by a healthy 5.7 point in July to the level of 92.6.

Last month the reading was at a level of 98.3 , which was up from the low point in April and May, of 85.7. The index had hit a peak in February of 132.6.

Prior to the creation of the new ‘fake economy’ this index was one I watched closely–how could you not watch it with the consumer being 2/3rds of the economy. Now with the Fed running the printing press day and night and liquidity sloshing around everywhere even though the consumer feels lousy they have pockets full of ‘free’ money to spend.

Article on the Index

Oh well–in spite of the lack of realistic expectations by investors I will still watch this index and employment numbers as keys to the future.

Thursday we have GDP being released for the 2nd quarter–it will be ugly–everyone knows it. Also on Thursday we have the important 1st time jobless claims that day as well–if these numbers show a worsening markets may take this news badly. If the economy is to improve we can’t see 1.5 million new unemployment claims every week.

Lastly we are awaiting the new Covid package from Congress. Dems want $3 Trillion and Repubs want $1 Trillion–so you know they will end up at $2 (more or less). I suppose the markets will rally on the news of a deal–why waste a good excuse to drive prices ever higher?

Monday Morning Kickoff

Another week is upon us and another bit of mystery as to how markets will trade presents itself.

We have some potentially ominous developments, which we all knew were coming, at hand and no one—no one, knows what 20 million folks having their paychecks cut by $600/week will do to the economy and the equity markets. Additionally eviction notices are starting to be issued to those who have not paid rent for months and soon foreclosures will begin to occur on some of the homeowners who are now part of the 5 million or so mortgages now in forbearance.

Of course we all know that congress will create new programs for aid to these folks, but I am guessing with somewhat less generous terms–just the same ramp up the printing press once again. The time between now and when a new stimulus is hammered out could be rocky, but on the other hand could it be that the ostriches will simply bury their collective heads in the sand and ignore the obvious?

Last week the S&P500 opened the week at 3224 and closed it out on Friday at 3215–for the tiniest of losses. The index is just 5-6% off a 52 week high.

The 10 year treasury yield fell a bit last week–opening the week at .61% and closing the week at .59%

Last week there was a small amount of growth in Federal Reserve balance sheet as assets grew by $6 billion. The week before the balance sheet grew by $38 billion as QE started to ramp back up. This after the balance sheet fell by $248 billion the previous 6 weeks as longer dated repurchase agreements were closed out.

Last week the average $25 preferred stock and baby bond rose in price by 20 cents. Utility issues remain strong rising by 25 cents–banks by 18 cents and investment grade by 20 cents. The only losing sector was the lodging sector (not in the chart below) which was off by 19 cents.

We had one new preferred issue come to market last week as junky Nexpoint Real Estate Finance (NREF) brought a 8.50% issue to market. The shares were priced at below liquidation preference at $24/share.

Shares are now trading on the OTC Grey market under temporary ticker NREFP. After trading as low as $22.92 shares closed at $23.05 on Friday.

Markets Living on Borrowed Time

Virtually every day we continue to see equity markets move higher–in spite of the news on Covid 19 and poor employment prospects.

Not to repeat myself too often, but I am just sitting tight–no buying and selling. My damn real work is getting in the way of doing what I really love which is working on the website.

We are just a week away from the end of the unemployment supplement money–that $600/week extra which has served to ‘juice’ the economy. Will we see a new program from the federal government? Certainly the states have no ability to pay even modest amounts–most of them are totally dependant upon the federal ‘printing press’.

Dovetailing with the upcoming reduction in unemployment payments we are seeing jobless claims rise again–1.4 million new claims last week.

This is not going to end well–but at what point markets begin to head sharply lower is anyone’s guess. With all of the liquidity the government has pumped into the economy individuals, banks and corporations are all holding bushel baskets full of cash–at what point this changes–who knows?