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AY and AQN – https://www.atlantica.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/Atlantica-Holds-Shareholders-Meetings-to-Approve-its-Acquisition-by-ECP-and-Co-Investors.pdf
August 8, 2024 – Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ: AY) (“Atlantica” or the “Company”), announced today that it has completed the requisite meetings of its shareholders to approve its acquisition by Energy Capital Partners and a group of co-investors (the “Transaction”). Based upon the preliminary results of these meetings, the Transaction received all requisite approvals of the Company’s shareholders. Atlantica will
publish the final voting results of the meetings in the coming days.
Looks like AQNB may not make it until the 4th qtr.
AQN also announces:
1. Q2 results,
2. Dividend cut, and
3. Sale of Renewable Energy Business.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/algonquin-power-utilities-corp-announces-114300655.html
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/algonquin-power-utilities-corp-declares-114900835.html
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/algonquin-power-utilities-corp-agrees-114100052.html
I always thot the AY sale would take a long time due to the ‘approval in different jurisdictions’ these can drag on a while, I know when CK Hutchison was selling its EU cell towers it took forever to get all the various EU approvals and especially in the UK too.. oh well. I was in AY for a while for a trade but no positions, I see TV told his peeps before the market opened to sell AQN as he ‘discovered’ the div cut in the release. Crazy week.. just wild.
AY’s been another MMF alternative for me…. I thought from Day 1 the likelihood of the deal being approved was very high and the only real risk was regulatory approvals and timing… In the meantime, they agreed to continue to pay the 44.5 cent per quarter so with the payout at $22 you have a low risk 8% current yield plus locked in…. The risk would be timing of the close because theoretically, if they arrange a closing on the deal the day before the dividend payment date (I wonder if declared or not?), you’re out of luck on that quarter’s divvy….. With timing for close announced to be late ’24 or early ’25 hopefully we have 2 dividends to capture and a close relatively quickly thereafter – or who knows? Maybe a third as well…. I own under 22 and now trading at 22.11, I suppose to reflect the amount of accrued to Sept 16 dividend payment similar to how called bonds trade. Goes x-div 8/29, thus confirming how sure the market is of this closing.
well that is one outcome, merger and collect on AY along the way; given their assets spread around many US states and countries, I see 16-17 ‘approvals’ that have to be given to get this done including in Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Spain guessing they all go thru as it looks like these go into stronger hands but there is always the chance it falls thru or gets modified later if that happens or the world changes (world wide recession.) I know of course 2WR you have figured this out as a true risk expert for decades too.
Personally when a merger is announced I sell and dont look back. Had 9 mergers of co’s I held since 2018 mostly in metals but the last one was Capri CPRI an idea from Taylor Dart who saw big undervalued, like Tapestry did, had it at 35, they offered and I sold at 51, then it gets squashed on handbag lack of competition/antitrust! lol. And back down.. then of course the midrange handbag/lux market fell apart somewhat complicating the whole thing for both companies. But that is just me. Way back when Trapping Value saw the potential for AY to be spun out or bot, he felt too the regulatory approval from so many entities/countries/states could be an obstacle– but…maybe this is figured in the $22 too by both parties! oh well.
I’m guessing the umpteen approvals most likely means they will end up having underestimated the timeline for closing, not the odds of it happening. Also, if I understand correctly, if Peru, for example rejects, then usually there’s a simple fix to shed the Peru assets to take them out of the equation…. I’ve seen that happen before but don’t know how truly easy it is… That being said, I’ll most likely unload after the second dividend assuming 22 holds….
CNHLP 6.21 yield. Should be ex-div date today so missing this dividend and gotta wait. I grabbed a tiny bit for the long term.
Not a recommendation.
This should probably be in the Illiquid section
Central Parking has updated and corrected the pay-out on it’s bond (ticker CRLKP). Those of us who have a position have been anxious as the underlying corporation (SP) has been purchased on gone private.
I am now using Schwab (had been with TD).
I have been w/ Schwab long time & a SSE user, have not moved to the new TD / Schwab trade site yet ( my D-Day is soon ! ).
You say you are with Schwab…. is their home page have a good self trade feature ? TIA,
Schwab’s “all in one” trade ticket is OK. Nothing magic, but usually pretty solid. I use it mostly to trade money markets and new issues.
I just started playing with thinkorswim. Moved a couple of tiny accounts to it. Seems much harder to just set up a simple view (I don’t want a TV feed, or a news feed, or 27 charts….)
Seems like I can get it to do most of what SSE did for me – except I can’t see where to specify which lots are to be sold when I set up a trade (schwab.com has same problem). SSE could do it on each order – no problem. Apparently, anything other than “high cost” requires a call with a broker (I have done it a few times. always takes at least half an hour).
Anyone have any idea how to do that in ToS?
Having arrived at Schwab from TDAmeritrade, I essentially enter all trades using TOS….. What are you referring to as Schwab’s “all in one” trade ticket?
Hi 2wr.
when you log in to Schwab.com, click on the “trade” tab, then on the “all in one” trade ticket. it is a very simple page. they call it “all in one”, but I think it only does stocks (tickers), mutual funds, MMF and options.
Bonds, CDs, etc are totally separate.
You can also go to it directly at https://client.schwab.com/app/trade/tom/trade .
FWIW – Schwab has a whole bunch of trading “spots” scattered across the site.
– At the bottom of many pages is a little box where you can put in a ticker, get a mini-quote, and enter a trade. Used to be it had new issues before other parts of Schwab.com, but less so nowadays.
-there is a “snap ticket” on the right edge of many pages where you can enter some kinds of orders. If it can’t do the order, it will send you to the all-in-one ticket.
-There are(were?) a couple of more scattered across the site that I haven’t used in years. Can’t recall the names, but schwab had been threatening to shut them down for a lot of years. They finally took away most of the links, but you could still get to them and they still functioned (as of maybe 5 years ago).
I have no idea why they had/have so many.
Also, there is a clunky fixed income page where you can place some orders. I don’t like the design of it. not very user friendly.
As a special bonus to new schwab users:
there is a better “research” page for most issues than the one under the ‘”research” tab on schwab.com. Schwab “reimagined” the research page, and it is simply missing a lot of data (esp. for income issues).
The good news is that the old page still works (at least for now). It is at
https://client.schwab.com/secure/cc/research/stocks/stocks.html?path=/Research/Client/Stocks/Overview/
Thanks for the education, Private…. Yes, I had actually seen that before but when I first experimented with it, it couldn’t identify a preferred by any symbol used elsewhere on the site or across the universe of how different firms ID preferreds… I had heard they solved that but haven’t looked at it since.
Your other description of what’s where just seems to be a microcosm of what Schwab still needs to get straightened out…. It seems like over the years somebody has had a brilliant idea that’s incorporated into the site, then someone else has another one incorporated in the site, etc., etc., etc,. but nobody’s been in charge of consolidating the brilliant ideas into an efficient way to use the site… You’ve also mentioned there’s a better research page than what you see under Research I’ve discovered that too all to the detriment of feeling comfortable what you’ve received the best most accurate research… This was readily apparent one day simply looking at rates for CDs. Search under Trade/Bonds/CDs then search under Research/Bonds, CDs & Fixed Income and I came up with entirely different results for available rates on whatever maturity CD I was looking for at the time.. Obviously after my first 3 months with Schwab, I’m missing the warm fuzzies I’d hope to have about my experience…. I’m also convinced that one’s opinion regarding which trading platform is best is totally dependent on which one you learned first. TOS, along with inertia, is the reason I’ve not explores alternatives yet…. I also use Fido’s Active Trader Pro which probably does everything I do on TOS, but I stick with TOS as the one I use the most.
2WR
In the software world, we call it “promotion-driven [software] development” (PDD).
Somebody gets the itch for a promotion, so they propose a new product or feature (that only they can lead development of), and drives it along until they get it finished enough to get the promotion. Sadly, it works too often.
Nobody gets promoted for looking at a product and saying “its fine, maybe needs a few tweaks” or “Its OK – lets focus on making the backend systems better/more reliable/etc.” or otherwise recommending that the company spend resources to streamline/improve existing systems. Instead, companies fall for PDD – and because technical resources are finite, they keep adding to their tech debt.
Almost all companies that create/use software have tech debt – the amount they will need to spend (in the future) to get their software up to snuff. Management teams rarely talk about that deficit. Most good CTOs are acutely aware of it and try to find ways to reduce it, but in most companies it just grows and grows until it causes a big enough business problem that management is forced to address it.
Example – one reason southwest airlines couldn’t offer red-eye flights, or have assigned seats, or be listed in industry reservation systems, or fly internationally (etc.) was that their systems were so antiquated (seriously – early 1990s technology). They finally started trying to modernize a few key systems a couple of years ago (remember the big “meltdown” they had in late 2022 that caused them to cancel flights for weeks?), but it will take years and $billions to get things truly fixed. I understand their announcement of reservable seats was a first achievement of their modernization effort.
In Schwab’s case, I think their tech debt is massive and they have a terrible PDD problem. They have SO many systems that overlap, don’t work together, etc., yet they keep “re-imagining” web tools/systems just to be able to say they have something new even though the new offerings aren’t better (or, in some cases are demonstrably worse) than the old ones.
Simple case in point – Schwab still uses at least four naming systems for preferred shares on various parts of their software. For example, Schwab J preferred is SCHW/PRJ (on most of schwab.com), SCHWpJ (on thinkorswim and streetsmartedge), SCHW+J (on some parts of schwab.com), and SCHW/PJ (on some older parts). Makes no sense. causes interoperability problems, etc. but they just can’t bring themselves to fix it. Instead, they just keep patching and band-aiding and the tech debt keeps growing.
Thanks, P PDD, huh…. Most likely their tech debt grew exponentially with the TDA acquisition which they patted themselves on the back about it being the largest ever transfer of assets from one firm to another… Although it would probably not reduce the tech debt, perhaps they ought to consider instituting “promotion driven [warm fuzzy] development to reduce migration away.
Greg, have you actually received a corrected payout on CRLKP?
If have not (in a Fidelity account)
Looks like PBI found a buyer, or at least someone to take the money losing Global E-Commerce (GEC) unit off their hands. I got a little bounce up in my PBI-B shares today on the rumor, expect more tomorrow now that it has been confirmed. I have some common shares as well, after hours trading shows about a 24% gain. Lots to be said for buggy whip companies I guess.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4137696-pitney-bowes-sells-controlling-interest-in-global-ecommerce-entities-to-hilco-commercial-industrial.
Check out HROW stock is up 50 % should be good for the pfds
Rvert—yes earnings released last night.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240807453796/en/Harrow-Announces-Second-Quarter-2024-Financial-Results
I have pondered a tiny preferred position–we’ll see.
I have some, up to now, did not think they would be called, but with good results and rates lowering… I will have to reconsider in this next year.
I bought some HROWM at IPO in my high risk bucket and added in early 2023. Not a full position, but it has turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
HROWM can be called 12/31/24 at 25.50. At present it’s selling for 26.31. So a call is a $0.81 loss but next dividend is $0.742 so loss is approximately $0.07. I’ll take my chances and hold.
I don’t follow HROWM but it’s one of those securities where the call date and the maturity date both do not coincide with div payment dates. So next div = 10/31 and then if it gets called on 12/31 you get more accrued plus the .50 call premium… I think you get almost 9.50 YTC taking all that into account… Gut feel would be they don’t call anyway. A B Riley managed issue, historically if they take their cues from the underwriter, calls don’t seem to frequently get done at first available date..
2w yes I forgot about the accrued after 10/31. Add that in and it looks better at current price.
CUBI stuff down, all on very heavy volume. I don’t see any press release or SEC filing that sheds any light. Anyone know anything?
CUBI common down 16.4%.
CUBI-E down 3.2%
CUBI-F down 2.9%
CUBB down 2.2%
see my post under COMMON STOCK
So it looks at least for now that CUBI’s settling in now in the range of 46 plus or minus. My how many angels on the head of a pin question is, why 46? Why not 40? or 56? How does Mr. Market end up deciding a single event like this make what was worth 54 yesterday worth 46 today? is there a fundamental reason or is it just where the little ball ends up on the wheel how does the aggregate of traders that is Mr Market quantify the correct amount of haircut? It always seems so arbitrary in situations like this.
2WR, Just now had time to see your posts. Thanks. My initial thought is all will be ok IF no large financial penalty. TD Bank paid a large penalty but that was for drug money laundering. I may add today, just need time to gather my thoughts. Interesting and concerning they paid $2.5 million to keep ex-manager quiet. I know sometimes settlement is simply to avoid legal fees but $2.5 million is excessive.
2wr-
CUBI held solid technical support from 2023 and 2024 and bounced. A close below today’s low would be bearish.
Thank you, 2wr.
See 2whiteroses comment under common stock chat. This is 2 days old.
https://www.kxan.com/business/press-releases/globenewswire/9199621/poulin-i-willey-i-anastopoulo-announces-investigation-of-customers-bancorp-cubi/
The way I read it, has nothing to do with the bank’s performance just the family running it.
“Customers Bancorp stock dives after Fed issues enforcement action”
avi can you provide link
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20240808a.htm
I added 2 more links to my post in edits including that one
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20240808a.htm
I think this sounds a lot worse than it acutally is. They just need to implement a much stronger oversight procedures for their anti money laudering practices , and they are now working with the FRB. This from the FRB release:
WHEREAS, since that time, the Organization has begun to take measures to address the
identified deficiencies in its BSA/AML compliance program;
WHEREAS, it is the common goal of Bancorp, the Bank, and the Reserve Bank to
improve the overall condition of Bancorp and the Bank, and to have Bancorp serve as a source of
strength to the Bank;
WHEREAS, Bancorp and the Bank and the Reserve Bank have mutually agreed to enter
into this Written Agreement (the “Agreement”); and
Added to CUBI-E at 24,52. But only bought 100 shares waiting to see how much further it would drop. and the answer is… none. Yay for catching the bottom or Boo for not loading up.
Yes. Fed issued enforcement action against the bank. Money-Laundering control issues.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20240808a.htm
I read it. Probably should be manageable… Looks like the bank is complying.
For those looking for agency paper
FHLB
6.50
10k min fido
3130B2AX3
8.16.44
AAA/AA+ M/SP
CHS Inc., the largest U.S. farmer cooperative, will partner with Brazilian train operator Rumo SA to build a major grain terminal in the South American nation’s largest port.
The companies have agreed to create a joint venture that will construct and share control of the new terminal in the southern port of Santos, Rumo said Thursday in a filing. The terminal will have capacity to handle as much as 9 million metric tons of grains and 3.5 million metric tons of fertilizer.
(Super negative Bloomberg story on Prospect Capital. We have no positions long/short in any account, likely pertinent if you do have positions.)
Private Credit Fund Burned by Risky Bets Is Bleeding Cash
Bloomberg
Prospect Capital, a little-known New York firm that helped pioneer the private credit boom, has come up with an unusual technique to keep dividends flowing out of an $8 billion fund it runs. For years now, it’s sold financial instruments to retail investors and handed over the proceeds to shareholders.
The sales helped the fund deliver hefty payouts even as the performance of its investments — mostly corporate loans to mid-size companies and real estate — deteriorated markedly. But they’ve also long raised concerns among some analysts who say the strategy obfuscates returns and is unsustainable.
Now, two years after the Federal Reserve began rapidly pushing up interest rates, those concerns are getting louder.
Prospect’s investments generated cash flows that were $200 million less than the amount the fund distributed in dividends last year, the biggest shortfall in at least seven years, analysts say. What’s more, the price investors are willing to pay for a stake in the fund, known as Prospect Capital Corp., has plummeted to more than 40% below the value of its underlying assets.
Rate hikes have rocked some of the companies that took floating-rate loans from Prospect, making it difficult for them to pay back the money they owe. A handful have either gone bankrupt or pursued out-of-court restructurings, leaving the fund nursing losses. Others, in lieu of sending cash, are paying by accumulating more debt with the fund, an arrangement known on Wall Street as payment-in-kind, or PIK.
PIK loans have climbed across private credit in the wake of the Fed hikes, one of a handful of concerns facing what’s become Wall Street’s hottest industry. Yet the problem is particularly acute at Prospect. One-third of the net investment income the Prospect fund generated in 2023 was paid in kind, double the average for the industry, according to Fitch Ratings.
As cash inflows have slowed, Prospect CEO John F. Barry III has resorted to bond and preferred equity sales to individual investors to make up for the shortfall and continue to make dividend payments. Funds like Prospect’s that are regulated as business development companies — a tax-advantaged structure that’s become popular in the private credit industry — are required to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income, including PIK income, as cash dividends.
The “simple reality is, if there are no major changes in how they generate income there will have to be some costly structural changes,” said Robert Dodd, an analyst at Raymond James Financial Inc. who covered Prospect for nearly two decades before dropping it in May. “They need access to capital to be able to generate income but if the spigots close, sooner or later there will be problems.”
Prospect didn’t respond to multiple requests seeking comment. Calls and emails to Barry as well as the firm’s other senior leaders all went unanswered.
In its earnings call a year ago, Prospect said it was very happy with the overall performance of its loan book and that its portfolio was holding up well amid the rise in interest rates. Earlier this year, it said its use of alternative financing sources showed that it’s a leader and innovator in the marketplace.
What analysts see in the fund, though, are oddities. They point to how it charges some of the highest management fees in the industry and to how one-fifth of the fund’s assets are concentrated in a real-estate investment trust, or REIT, that it fully controls. But it’s the jump in PIK loans and a series of circular financing arrangements between the fund and the REIT that have attracted the most scrutiny.
This article is based on a Bloomberg review of regulatory filings and interviews with over 20 people, including market analysts, BDC investors and individuals who have worked at the firm or done business with it. Some asked not to be identified to preserve
relationships across the industry or because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
.
.
.
Around 13% of the fund’s loan exposure, including via collateralized loan obligations, is marked at 80 cents on the dollar or below, a common threshold for distress. Among the 15 largest publicly traded BDCs, the next highest was around 5%, data compiled by fixed-income specialist Solve show. That’s even as Solve’s analysis of BDC filings shows that Prospect is among the most reluctant firms to mark down their loans compared to peers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-08-06/why-prospect-capital-s-8b-private-credit-strategy-is-raising-concern?
Thanks Tex
This is great DD. How many shares does Barry own now; somewhere around 66mm??
At first glance you might think Tex’s post might not be directly applicable to you because you don’t have a position but if you hold BIZD, you have an allocation of 3% at least I would guess.
Thanks Tex, I have a smallish position in their bonds, which are rated Baa3/BBB-. I wonder if this article will get the attention of Moodys and S&P.
Tex – This was so actionable this morning. PSEC closed down 6% vs the open print. In options land, that would be a massive payday on the short side.
Puts at $5 and $4 strikes being bought today from 1-2 months out and further expirations in large chunks. Volume ranged from 10000 -> 13000+ contracts for multiple strikes each. Intraday upside range on some of these was 300%+.
Hey, Theta – that’s so old school says Barrons…. nobody’s buying puts anymore in reaction to something like that – they’re selling puts. That’s apparently the trendy thing to do instead – https://archive.ph/yfSBd
6.5% FHLB note available at Fidelity and Schwab CUSIP 3130B2AX3
Callable monthly. Matures in 2044.
I saw that, but it starts accruing 8/30 and is callable 9/16.
I actually bought $100K of that exactly at par but I can tell you they will call it in Sept. Sometimes, I wonder why they even bother.
Top 10 MMFs today…
1. VMRXX…5.29%
2. VMFXX…5.28%
3. VUSXX…5.27%
4. GABXX…5.25%
5. DTGXX…5.21%
6. IDSXX…5.17%
7. FZDXX…5.15%
8. SWVXX…5.14%
9. TSCXX…5.10%
10. PRTXX..5.05%
CKNQP 300 shares offered at 99.20
The market is hitting floaters lately.
https://www.quantumonline.com/search.cfm?tickersymbol=CKNQP&sopt=symbol
Maine, More liquidity on CKNQP now, 1k sold and another 900 available. I just picked up a few hundred more.
thanks, pig
Lucky at $99.15
What are the odds of SOFR dropping another 105 basis points from here in the next 4 months? That would have to happen for the first floating rate payment starting 1/1/25 (to be paid 4/1) to be lower than 8%. They are also only callable on dividend payment dates beginning 1/1/25. So the incentive ought to remain high for them to call on 1/1/25 OR for shareholders to begin receiving a continually outsized rate of floating payments. I think 99.20 = 9.85% yield for first call.
2WR, I fully expect them to call this. But would certainly welcome it if they didn’t. Thanks for the details
Interesting arbitrage today….
Sold $25K of A rated 6/26 maturity bonds for $25.5K because YTM from present market value was 4.4%.
Thanks to Charles and pig, put it all into CKNQP yielding 6.2% and/or YTM of 9.85% if called 1/1/25.
Yes, CKNQP is rated several notches lower, but I have highest confidence in federally chartered co-op banks.
III delivers again.
Thanks, guys
My GTC hit at $99.20 for 250 shares. I have a huge pile of this one already so that should top me off.
BAC preferred Series X got the call notice today.
https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2024/08/bank-of-america-announces-full-redemption-of-its-series-x-prefer.html
Would’ve liked this one to float but no big surprise they’re redeeming it.
Ugh – thanks for sharing
Nikkei down 12% in one day, serious margin implications??????
I have not seen a report here yet that the parent of Central Parking, SP Plus, was acquired by a private company, Metropolis Technologies:
https://www.metropolis.io/news/metropolis-closes-acquisition-of-sp-plus
I wonder if that has anything to do with CRLKP paying at a 5.05% rate this quarter rather than its standard 5.25% rate.
SNewman, yes the reduction in payment must somehow be related to the Metropolis Technology Inc’s take-private acquisition of SP+ in May of this year (following SP+’s previous acquisition of Central Parking in 2012). Good luck finding out anything from them (let me know if you do): they don’t even post a corporate phone number.
All the text on their site (metropolis.io) is focused on “technology” and “AI” and “check-out-free payment”, and nothing about actually operating the parking lots.
Earlier you’d posted, “CRLKP, which a few here follow, reportedly reduced its distribution for the most recent quarter – one of the reps at a brokerage told me: “After double checking with our clearing firm […] CRLKP […] informed the DTCC to pay at a rate of $0.301174 instead of the usual $0.328125.””
I have observed the same thing (actually, the rate I observe is $0.301180/share, which I calculate to be an effective 4.819% coupon payment, not 5.05%, and certainly not 5.25% as stated in the prospectus (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1062218/0000950144-98-009207.txt).
There is nothing in the prospectus I can see about reducing payment, only payment deferral.
It looks like someone is selling CRLKP today for $22.50. I think I get a YTM > 8% at that price. I picked up a little.
DICK W-
I think it is on the pink sheets- reporting at OTC. No fear of it going black with a buyout?
I have some and could sell without a big loss– been caught in these too many times.
It matures on April 1, 2028. I am planning to hold to maturity. So I’m not worried about expert market.
RF-PF 24.37 was going to buy to flip it. Now I might have to keep for the income
One account down by .45%
Bot PFFA today at 21 ;; this is a ETF ; it picks stocks and has leverage ;
yield about 9.5% ;
its far different than PFF that tracks an index; excellent piece on it in SA few days ago
I’ve been laying downside alerts on ToS like landmines for months. I’ve had 27 go off today so far. I’m not in a buying mood, but these looked interesting although I’ve forgotten why I liked them. Can someone remind me?
ANG-B (bounced)
TECTP
Although it’s still a year away, ANG-B has a massively high reset premium of +6.297 when it resets 9/25
TECTP was just mentioned today as it traded below its $10. It’s a private bank with no publicly traded shares (he says, redundantly) but it seems to be relatively well respected and not into the areas of most concern for small banks. It just started floating in May and is only callable on div payment dates, so it’s too late to be called on 8/15 and will float at SOFR + .261 + 6.72 so should end up paying over 12% once its next float rate is determined next week.
(TECTP) Tectonic Co-Chairman is George Ball. I’d be careful, I’m truly unsure that if I shook his hand I’d get back all of my 5 fingers 🫣 https://www.investmentnews.com/industry-news/news/balls-back-on-the-street-unscathed-by-old-scandals-7602#:~:text=After%20Hutton%2C%20Mr.%20Ball%20moved%20to%20Prudential-Bache%20as,risks%20involved%20in%20investment%20partnerships%20sold%20by%20brokers.
Please do your own due diligence, Azure
Do you remember this guy from the 80’s? Ever met him? I never did, but I remember having the impression that he was one of those guys that you could never figure out how he got to where he got….
2WR, I was an Institutional Money Manager at Prudential just after Mr Ball was fired and adjudicated. I was directly hired to clean up the inconceivable and scandalous mess he made. MAYBE the BOD wanted me to work for them because I had gone to law school and was trustworthy to them…
Trust is the glue of business and our lives. It’s the most essential ingredient in daily effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. Just ask yourself, “would you trust Mr Ball with your money” after knowing his history 🤐
Well said philosophy.
TECTP- Ex today, so down, but a lot recovered.
r2s, You must not be watching the same stocks as me, or I must want a really good deal. I have 28 GTC in one account. 4 filled and 2 partial fills.
To give you an idea of how I really need a good bargain to buy something, I only had 17 of the PF and BB holdings in the green, yet the account was only down .45% for the day.
10yr ~ just hit 52 week low, 3.75%
VIX… at open 55, now 46
fyi for a trade idea for your riskier side of investments.
CWM and Scott initiated trades this week for Golub – GBDC. In my opinion they do ok on their investments as they document their trades in a spreadsheet as they do them for their subscribers. I also follow BDC’s to juice my income. This is where i put my risky money at. They initiated at $14.75 and $14.80. I noticed the drop in the last few weeks in this BDC, and I have initiated various trades between $14.73 – $15.35. Again, please do your own due diligence and understand your risk profile and investment time horizon. This is play money for me as I am not currently spending any of my saved up money and probably wont spend any of it for another 10 yrs.
thanx again Mr C, I have GBDC, having never owned these before, I did some dd; I see people have done quite well with them and having been burned in 2008-9 somewhat on Capital Source which was a mezzanine biz loaner, finally bought by PacWest (!!! no comment!!) I was always skeptical of those who had to pay up and go unconvential for loans. now of course ‘private credit’ and bdc’s are the rage.
Anyway with so much time on my hands looked into this one. one of the Mr Golubs was on CNBC w his wife Karen Finerman who I find quite conservative. I liked the heavy cash position, he and his brother’s long time connections to things, was not fond of the allocation to software but these days that ‘category’ can encompass so much, read thru, took a nibble. I may build to 1% or so in Roth. I know it is not a big allocation but want a comfort level with it. Nice pick I guess we’ll see! bunch of discussion on SA of course too. Guess I was a little early, may average down a bit after gauging things in the coming weeks. others/ DYODD thanxx. B
Bea, I also picked up a # of shares of BIZD on Friday. An ETF covering ~ 26 ish BDCs. Ares, Golub, Main, Blue Owl … I thought it was a good entry point as it has fallen to a 6th month low. Could it fall further? yes, but I can’t seem to find the guy with the crystal ball. This will also help me diversify the risk in this space.
I would like to also move more into ETF’s. If anyone has great ideas for low cost ETF’s, I am all ears… There is a CEF category on this site, but no ETF discussion thread. I have > 200 baby bonds and preferreds that I own, and I would like to move more into ETFs as the years go by. There is no way in hell that if something happens to me that my family will want to manage what I currently have.
Does anyone have other opinions on this particular ETF? I like the idea of diversity in BDCs with an ETF although this one has an 11% expense ratio from what I see.
Yield,
The way it was explained to me is that accounting rules require those types of funds to include the expenses of the BDCs they hold also. So it looks out of whack, but really isn’t. I just jumped into PBDC yesterday, its real expense ratio is actually very reasonable even though whats reported is crazy high due to the BDCs that ETF holds expense ratios.
i added some this morning at 14.32.
Received email today that Federal Farm Credit is calling their 6.08% agency bond on Aug. 8 (CUSIP 3133EPHJ7). Earlier this year the calls got down to about 6.32%. Now it seems that all +6% agency bonds are goners (*sigh*).
goin2cali;
I am holding this on and suspect it will go at the earliest call date which is 10/16/24. About the last thing most retired persons need is lower rates, but we have to play the hand we are dealt I guess. Maybe I will just take it all to the Chumash Casino and put it on the red 🙂
.3133EPYD1
FEDERAL FARM CR 6.85%43 DUE 10/16/43
I’ve got one callable agency >6% with more to come. .. such as 3133EPZJ7 6.95% with 88 days to call. And here I was hoping to hold that one for 20 years. This is how I will be involuntarily raising cash.
And yet this week I was able to buy a new issue Federal Home Loan 6% due 8/12/39 with a 6 month first call… bot assuming I was buying a 6 month piece of paper…….CUSIP 3130B26G5
This one worked out pretty well. I bought it when issued on 4/30/24 at par and it isn’t callable until 4/30/26 as it most likely will be, no way it will go to 4/30/34, so to me it is just a 6% 2 year CD.
48130CKC8
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO 6%34 D
FWIW – Capital One still has (of this writing) a one year CD @ 5%.
And my take on the Fed, why lower rates? There is no “normal” for the Fed Funds rate but it’s been 5-6% on average forever, with much higher rates in certain periods. The fact is that we have too much debt at every level – government, corporate, and individual/household. That is the real problem, not the 5.25% Fed Funds rate.
Weird price action -big mover today: COMSP 7.50, then down to 0.05, and up to 6.61 No news driving it. Various quotes.
Someone must have fat fingered a trade or failed to enter as limit trade and got caught by someone with GTC.
It had been at 4¢ before a 600sh purch at 7.50, then a 600sh drop to 5¢, then closed the day 6.61 with 7500 share total. Looks like a thumb error, but who is buying at 6.61 for that many shs after being 4¢ ??
Like Button ~ “Like Button” messaging changed on several III’ers from reviewing recent comments under different tabs (mine included). Tim or anyone else know what the odd “Like Button” messaging means??
I suspect this is a website issue for Tim.. I clicked and got this message..
“(FREE tariff plan allows to show maximum 1 button(s) per page. Upgrade your website plan on LikeBtn.com. To remove such notices uncheck Show Info Notices chekbox on plugin Settings tab.)”
JBBB down 1%. It’s been quite stable but there’s obviously some panic going on in the markets. We’ll see if this is a canary in the coal mine or an opportunity. JAAA is unchanged right now.
JBBB’s NAV was actually up 4 cents on 8/2 to 48.90. Shares closed at 48.41, an unusual discount for a liquid ETF.
JPM sees a 50bps FED cut in Sept and 50 bps in Nov. God forbid we have weakness into the Holiday season. I guess it is Halloween, in the market and in the stores, boy they rush the seasons don’t they!! Bea
Bea:
Been watching my Schwab short term treasury money market funds closely to track the yields, but still over 5%. But it definitely looks like CD yields are starting to reflect a big drop in short term rates. I have a 5.45% CD maturing in a week and the potential replacements at Schwab look meager at best.
All that risk-free interest income at 5%+ sure was fun while it lasted! But I think we should all pray that we never had back to ZIRP. The last thing I want to see again is another investing environment of “return-free” risk.
Thanx Papa Doc, been watching my SPAXX as well but hanging in at 4.98, the FIDO sweep a/c, of course w big .42% fee, most of mine is in SGOV where I get instant trading access if needed. I did a lot of buying just now, more BFS D-E, heavily overweighted in those, MGR and MGR E and a few energy names a few gold miner names on the spec side. Nice to have cash to do things! good luck. DYODD.
IMHO, you are better off looking the yield curve instead of your MMF to get a gauge on rates for CD rollovers. I look at the 1 year and 2-year Treasury rates, You aren’t going to see a giant drop in MMF rates until a rate cut because that’s the rate the Fed controls. A little secret: many MMFs park a lot of their overnight money with the Fed.
If you have cash around you might want to look at essentially pre-refunding your 5.45% CD by buying a new one now instead of waiting. Don’t know what term you are looking at but brokered 1 year CDs went decisively under 5% today. There are still 1-year 5% CDs around for direct purchase. Yeah, 5% is bad, but 4.5% is worse. JMO. DYODD.
just posted elsewhere – 5.15% APY NON CALLABLE 13 month CD still available at Synchrony Bank onllne
Thanks. Surprised that Synchrony’s on-line savings accounts are still at 4.75%. My list of usual suspects. Bask Bank at 5.25% for 1 year. Marcus/Goldman at 5.15 for 1 year. CapitalOne at 5.00 for 1 year,
Fiudelity sweeps at 5% some short term etf’s slighltly higher, no reason to lock up money when I might find somethign better to do with it possibly qualified dividend.
Hey Martin – Would you mind a theoretical question? I have no clue whether you follow NEWT notes at all and that’s really not important, but I noticed that on close, NEWTI 8% 9/1/28 ca 9/1/25 was at 25.37 while NEWTG 8.5% 6/1/29 ca 6/1/27 was @ 25.25. Ignoring for the sake of argument what the exact bid/asked spreads were, and I realize that’s too important to really ignore, I was wondering in your world of arbing between issues of the same issuer, would that be a large enough spread to pique your interest? And if not, rule of thumb, how wide does it have to be before you try to play the game? Just curious… It’s sort of another picking up pennies game I suppose and why not if they’re there for the picking?
Haven’t been following NEWT but in that example I would’ve been in NEWTG long before the difference got that big, missing out on the full profit. Assuming I couldn’t find a reason for the divergence.
I trade in pieces. If all in on one issue I’m quick to even things out so I can move in either direction. But then slower to complete the swap until I get a bigger price difference. Also depends on volatility, if tight issues trade in a narrow range I’ll swap for a dime it’s free profit in additon to the dividend. But on issues that move more wildly I’ll gradually walk it up to a larger advantage. Or just sell some shares and wait to buy them back. Too many factors to follow hard and fast rules.
Thanks, M….interesting to find out more about your pure arb trading strategy…. Usually I’m too lazy to try but do other low risk penny picker upper things as you probably know…. And in this particular case, I’m already in the wrong one to be able to take advantage… lol
You seem to do quite well with what you’re doing and always have interesting thins to say.
I wouldn’t call it pure arb I look at other things too. Technically it’s not arbitrage by the strict definition we just call it that because it’s basically the same idea.
Thanks for the compliment, M… It’s pretty darn close to pure arb, but I get the distinction…. I do try to do it every now and then but you’re the king…. I do remember we both took advantage of the crazy opportunity in 3/23 when CUBI-F irrationally and totally imploded while F remained relatively stable (emphasis on “relatively”) but you did a much better job of execution than I did because I sold E first before buying F and I should have done the reverse. I, therefore missed the bottom on my second tranche on F. So there’s always room to learn from III’ers willing to share….
Throughout July I saw Balsam Hill ads on tv for their fake Christmas trees.
Fits the old Xmas in July theme.
Gary,
Your post reminded me (Totally off topic), but I saw Christmas stuff \displayed at hobby lobby this week (I don’t go there often, no idea how long it has been up).
I’ve shared “feeling uncomfortable” for three months.
“Foul weather Westie” maneuvered to 2/3’ds T’s, and short term BB’s (Portfolio A) ;
1/3 IG prefs & commons (Portfolio B).
Today is what I’ve braced for and expect more to come
Dow & SPX down > 2%
Portfolio A: up .001%
Portfolio B: down .0075%
Falling knife Chemours CC ….
Dropped from yesterday $23.29 Close to low of $18.77 on earnings miss
Picked up 300 @$19.10
Currently $20.05
Not for the faint of heart
Great Elm notes incoming GECCH
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1675033/000119312524191551/d683612dn2.htm
For those who like to capture falling knives……
Chemours (CC) down 19% on earnings miss
8.875% senior BB MFAN 2/15/29 trading around 24.87 after ex-div reprice today
That’s about right. MFA-B overpriced at the moment so MFAN is the better choice today but that could change at any time. Only a couple pennies better than MFAO, which pays slightly more.
Nice alert. Check out MITN. Trading a few pennies under par today with a 9.5% coupon and 5 year duration.
theta-
MITN 9.5% (MITP too) and MFAN 8.875% are similar except for the coupon. Weird. Unrated. REITs. Recent issues. Same ex-date. A person might consider buying the better company, whichever that is, or skipping the whole high-yield REIT scene entirely.
I think these issues could be much cheaper some day, but if that day comes, I’ll be shopping for cheap IG issues. Meanwhile, today is today.
New Thread …. re Schwab Street Smart users …. any tips on the transfer over to the new platform.
Have any found a Live contact at Schwab of help.
Thanks, Jim
Jim, Might want to move this to brokerage section. I use my investment advisor who is great. You should have someone assigned to your account. Try them Or Schwab has lots of videos and information on this topic and others. I find using CHATGP or Google helpful. The schwab search on the website I have never liked. Good luck.