I will be adding a new link titled “Sandbox” in the right hand menu.
That link will get you to this page.
I had originally set up the “Reader Initiated Alert” page for ‘alerts’. I was thinking this, for instance, might be when a preferred stock is undergoing a temporary selloff and someone wants to let the population know about it quickly. Of course we all (including me) use the ‘alert’ page for general messaging.
I am requesting that we start using the Sandbox page for all general talk, and try to preserve the ‘alerts’ page for ‘alerts’.
I have had a screen up on one of my monitors all week where I see all comments – no matter where they are posted–it is a great page and I wish everyone had a page like that–believe me we all benefit from all the knowledge being shared. I don’t want to stifle any of the exchange of knowledge, but hope to get things a bit better organized by adding the Sandbox page.
News from B. Riley:
B. Riley Financial (RILY) said Tuesday it and its bebe stores unit transferred and contributed their interests in certain brand assets to an unnamed securitization vehicle for roughly $236 million.
The company received about $189 million in net proceeds, while the unit sold its interests in the brand assets for approximately $47 million in net cash proceeds, B. Riley added.
The financial services company said it intends to use the proceeds for the payment of outstanding senior secured debt and deleverage its balance sheet.
B. Riley’s stock rose 8.2% in recent Tuesday premarket activity.
Old NYCB Preferred, now Flagstar Bank ( FLG ) …. re NYCBpU …..
after several tries to find the new ticker for the ” U ” …..nogo ….
Any posters have the new ticker for this one. Thanks
FLG-U at barchart.com
oddly, etrade still shows it as NYCB.PR.U with a value of 0
shwab shows it as FLG/PRA
etrade also shows it as FLG.PR.U
Fidelity’s split brain (per usual) lists it as FLGPRU in portfolio, and FLG/PU for trades.
quantumonline no longer lists NYCB-U, but not finding the new one.
Thanks. I wondered aloud why I had those symbols on my screen. I’d been away for vacation and thought I was having a senior moment!
BTW, for anyone who’d like to go to Europe right now in first class –and if you have AMEX or Chase points, those are transferrable to avianca (lifemiles.com)
My point is for 120,000 points each way you can get what would be a $20,000 ticket, but more importantly is the most comfort I’ve had on an 11 hour flight …almost like it was the highlight of the trip. I decamped from cold Germany to Malta.
This is available last minute by looking at seats.aero, and chooing Luthansa first class finder from the drop down tools menu.
Frankly, I’m now so spoiled by Lufthansa I doubt I could fly any other way.
One of my business colleagues wrote this article and I thought it might be of interest to a few of you. Please due your own deep due diligence, know the vast majority of people that write these article and post them hide behind computers and will have a different agenda and investment goals than you https://stansberryresearch.com/articles/this-precious-metal-is-beginning-a-triple-digit-rally
Don’t settle for what life gives you; make life better and build something. Hopefully, you will help many that are not as fortunate as you and guide others along your journey. All things are possible with G-d’s help, I am Azure
Azure,
Gold has been in spotlight but both palladium and platinum are starting to move. Both have had false breakouts over the years only to give it back while gold keeps its gains. This time may be different?
Anybody know the ex date on KTH? Thanks
RK – I sold some KTH yesterday and the activity page at Fidelity said the following:
YOU SOLD EX-DIV DATE 10/30/24 RECORD DATE 10/30/24 PAYABLE DTE 10/31/24 CORTS TR PECO ENERGY CAP TR III 8.00
Hope that helps.
Heads up: Tomorrow Washington state comes to market with a Aaa housing issue subject to AMT. ( fyi if you’re income is under $500k you’re not so likely to be subject to AMT but you should run a tax program like TurboTax to see abt your sutuation)
The 10-year amt paper is indicated at 4.45. This works out to abt 6.5 TEY if you’re in the 32 pct marginal bracket .
T2: Long read on SASB (Single Asset Single Borrower) bonds
AAA Bonds Go Bust and Reveal Depths of US Office-Market Crash
Bloomberg
1407 Broadway was, as far as the financiers of Wall Street could tell, as rock-solid an asset as could possibly exist. Located in the heart of Manhattan’s storied Garment District, its entrance cut from white marble flecked with a soft bronze terrazzo motif, the 43-floor tower was a money-minting machine with a never-ending roster of well-heeled corporate tenants.
So when the owners floated a $350 million bond backed by the building’s rental income in 2019, the bulk of the debt was stamped with a AAA credit rating, the highest grade awarded by ratings firms. Not even US Treasury bonds, the North Star for global financial markets, are deemed that safe. But 1407 Broadway, the thinking went, was so impervious to the vagaries of economic cycles that a default was unfathomable — nothing more than a once-in-5,000 years kind of freak event.
On June 17 — four years and 212 days after the bond was issued — investors in the AAA rated chunk of debt were informed they wouldn’t be getting the full $1 million interest payment they were owed that month. They’re now foreclosing on the building to salvage whatever they can of their investment.
Over in Chicago, at a building called River North Point, it’s a similar story. So too at 600 California St. in San Francisco and at 555 West 5th St. in Los Angeles. Back in Manhattan, just a short walk down the street from 1407 Broadway, the default is official at the old MONY building. It was sold off at a fraction of its pre-pandemic price, fully wiping out some creditors and even sticking buyers of the AAA bonds with a 26% loss — something that hadn’t happened since the great financial crisis.
. . .
“There will be deals that are horrific, where the AAAs may not be paid off in full and there’s basically no bid for the asset,” said TJ Durkin, head of structured credit and specialty finance at TPG Angelo Gordon. “The investment community thought the real estate would never become obsolete. It ended up being wrong.”
Tex the 2nd…… Do you know who typically holds these type of bonds? I’m sure they are spread around. Is it typically high wealth individuals? I would think AAA bond would have very low rates.
Please skip the following if you have no interest in technical analysis.
In a recent comment regarding the rally in TNX (the 10-year treasury yield index), I mentioned my short-term technical projection target, as well as the nearby 50% retrace of the the Oct 2023-Sep 2024 yield selloff. (As always, projections are not predictions, and I don’t know where rates are going.)
Today, TNX closed at the target 4.28%, and the high was 4.3%, right at the 50% retrace. The interesting part depends on what happens next. If TNX responds to these levels by stalling or falling, you might say ah-ha, it worked. Otherwise, ignore.
The prices of which prefs/BBs are falling in sync with falling prices (rising yields) for long-end treasuries? I’d expect that would be stocks with longer durations.
MTBA has been falling. CY is 6.0% based on a continuing 25 cents per month dividend (today was ex-div). Duration 4.88 years https://www.simplify.us/etfs/mtba-simplify-mbs-etf.
Uncallable WFC-L also falling, CY 6.15%. There’s been some movement to higher yields among the illiquids. What else?
On Nov 6 the FOMC might announce another rate cut. How would that affect the picture? Is it already baked in? What if no cut?
r2s depending on reports like durable goods, employment, revision to last month etc. I read that the economy is on track to show 3% growth. That is pretty robust. I am placing my bet no cut in rates at this meeting.
I agree, if you can get 4.28% on a safe 10yr T-bill Why buy a 6% perpetual preferred? For that matter, why take a risk on common stocks? You might be better off buying a Treasury ETF.
I switched to MTBA and JAAA and sold most of my corporate bonds and preferred now that the spreads got so weird. It’s a bit peculiar to me that mbs can return a ‘risk-free’ greater than A- corporate but whatever.
If mortgages go back to 8% might buy more.
It’s not obvious to me why WFC – L gets a higher price (110%) with no call risk than the the TBTF banks get with the 5 year 5T reset.
The sweet spot on treasuries is 19 years at 4.65
Looking at a few preferreds to see if they are treasury-yield followers brought up the obvious problem. Every stock has a story that affects price as much or more than treasury yields. MTBA, WFC-L and illiquids have very little extra story. Could add AGNC, although neither it nor MTBA are preferreds.
SFB fits the bill pretty well, 5.2% senior BB due 2047, callable now, CY 5.8%.
r2s, I own SFB and slightly underwater on my purchase price. I think it may have more to the downside than upside considering it’s call date. I intend to average down.
Here’s a question invoked by Charles saying he’s slightly underwater on SFB….. In 2022, I purchased a perpetual preferred with an almost 100% chance of being called in 2025 at a YTC of 7.48%. Today, I can sell that same preferred at a 5.96% YTC using the same call date. So would I be taking a profit or a loss? Is profit or loss determined solely by the dollar prices involved? I’m pretty sure it is but really don’t know 100% for sure so I figured I’d ask the experts on here.. In this illustration the issue in question is WCC-A 10.625% callable 6/22/2025. I bot on 5/17/22 @ 27.507 average…. I’m almost 100% certain I would book a loss selling at 25.95, but would end up having done far better than I originally anticipated when I originally purchased as a buy and hold position.
2WR It’s 5:00 am here so let’s keep it simple. Just for simplicity I would say you collected the dividend by buying on 5/17 so 9 qtrs x .665=$5.985 Plus the sell price of 25.95 is $31.935
You’re ahead by about $4.40 As for taxes, I can’t say but it’s a long term hold so held in a taxable account could you show it as a loss?
Hey Charles – Back on the Gmail issue, you may want to clean up your Inbox and/or any folders that you save email to. Especially anything with attachments you don’t need. That might free up the space so you won’t need to add space for Gmail.
2wr, to clarify, this is a tax question?
yup
Treasury borrowing estimate for Oct-Dec.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2506
In Jan. the debt ceiling will be reactivated, and Treasury may be forced to spend down the expected $700B in its cash account at the Fed.
Another short term cd/treasury replacement HTLFP similar to WTFCP reset 5yr treasury + 6.675% on 07/15/25 trading around 25.10ish, will likely be called.
As far as I know, the purchase of HTLF by UMB is still expected to close Q1 2025. Is there any news? The stable, par hugging price behavior of HTLFP does not indicate any anxiety by traders.
Bear posted about the NYSE extending trading hours to 22 hours a day. A few comments SPECIFIC to preferreds/babys:
1) “Regular” trading hours are 9:30AM to 3:00PM New York time. Roughly 99.99% of all trades occur during the hours. I am including the large PFF trades which get reported up to a minute or two after these hours. Those trades are negotiated “upstairs” earlier but get reported at ~ the regular close.
2) “Extended” trading hours are 4:00am to 8:00PM. Under “normal” circumstances where there is no significant news, prefs/baby trades are rare during these hours. Over a very large sample for 2024 year to date, about 0.03% trades occur during the extended hours. That is 3 filled trades per every 10,000 open orders. Spreads widen out a lot in the extended hours, more so in late trading. Common to see spreads of ~2 to ~20 in late hours. And yes, the $20 is not a typo. You see 9.00/29.00 quotes for a $25 face issue. Does NOT mean that any trades occur at these prices.
3) The main value of extended hours, in particular pre-market, is when there is company news. The news can go both ways, positive or negative. When those happen, you can see large moves. For this reason alone, I think it is a very good idea at a minimum to check all of your holdings for large price moves BEFORE regular hour trading opens. Even better if you can check the entire universe of prefs/babys. You might find an issue you do not currently hold that you want to take a position in, be it long or short.
4) When you see a large move in the extended hours, the challenge is to determine if is based on real news or is a fat-fingered trade. You see both types. In 2022-2023, we saw a number of negative reports that tanked prices. Not so much in 2024. More common in 2024 are fat-fingered trades where for some unknown reason somebody decided that really wanted to buy/sell, regardless of rational prices.
5) Other than the significant news aspect giving more tradeable hours to react, I would not expect a significant impact on prefs/babys since the current extended hours are so rarely used. Note this is NOT the case for commons. You do so a lot of trades on the popular commons in the extended hours.
Futures trade 24/5, except for an afternoon hour M-Th. They open at 6pm ET on Sunday. If there is market moving news outside of regular trading hours, it will show up in futures first.
If 22 hours just adds to existing extended hours, it’s more or less irrelevant to me. Crypto trades 24/7.
in discussion of the expansion of market hours, many common stocks do trade roughly 24/7 given they are listed on multiple world exchanges. I can think of 10 at least that trade in HK, AUS, CA/US/ EU-LSE/Germany..so if you are willing to exchange currency and buy on a foreign exchange you can ‘trade’ pretty much anytime.
To me this is more of an issue for day traders or chartists who play these short term moves. If something I own trades overseas and has released news outside US/CA hours I will review that pre-market action and reaction on foreign stock forums.
I still think lengthened trading hours will provide great opportunities in stocks/pfds/bb’s w well thought out limit orders/stink bids.
Tex-
Hmm…I haven’t bought any babies/preferreds up to 4pm EST? 3pm?
Before You Quit
Jonathan Clements | Oct 26, 2024
https://humbledollar.com/2024/10/before-you-quit/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=another-ses-test_7
Hoping each of you are having an incredible and memorable weekend, A
Azure, thanks for posting. I have found that grandkids can be a very fulfilling but not restful retirement. A question for you, some time ago I had purchased one of Gridbird’s favorites, the Nassau “Phoenix” bonds. I am having quite a time trying to evaluate the financials of this insurer, and even their posted financial statements are impossible to get through for someone outside of the insurance industry. With Grid no long communicating I seem to recall you had an interest in them some time ago. Are you still comfortable with these holding up through maturity?
Don, thank you for your question; I am traveling with friends in the European countryside and will give you the basics because I’m rushed for time. I own a large amount of the Phoenix bonds you have referenced and have no intention of on selling them. I would buy more, but they are not easy to accumulate. I continue to get my quarterly interest and my desire is to hold them until their maturity. Grid and I use to joke that we are holding them h til death or maturity. The last I read, the bonds got upgraded (their financial position is quite strong in the insurance industry and when I did the analysis (years ago), I bought more bonds through Vanguard. I’m unsure if Vanguard would be able to facilitate buying more because their rules have gotten much more difficult. In the next few days I should have time to do some more research on Phoenix and will post it if I find anything of interest. You may want to call Phoenix/Nassau as they are based in Bermuda and use to be easy to chat with.
Be well my friend, Azure
I am no insurance expert so am eager to hear what others say. Here are a few observations:
Positives
equity injections from fortress and most recently, Golub- link below.
Improving credit ratings
Negatives
Overall AM best credit still relatively low
Lots of fixed income unrealized losses on their balance sheet due to rising rates. Last I looked, their GAAP equity was negative, or something like that.
Also, they hold other insurance policies as a large part of their investments, not necessarily bad – but not as transparent/trustworthy as traditional fixed income.
https://archive.ph/Np3ad
https://archive.ph/Np3ad
The Phoenix bonds were quoted to me through the Schwab fixed income dept. yesterday @ $25 ask. I told them, no thank you.
Azureblue–nice to see you–it has been awhile!
Thank you Tim, I truly admire you (many of the posters here too) and what you have created with III. I have recommended your site to dozens of my friends and colleagues. I haven’t posted very often because of my extensive travel schedule this year, the NDA’s I have signed with my consulting company that don’t allow public recommendations and many investment industry obligations. I have spoken 30+ times this year at institutional investor seminars (in the US, MidEast and Europe), been interviewed on national radio a few times and I’m hoping to scale back my schedule in 2025. The plan is to concentrate on getting a better tan in Ft Lauderdale, spending more time with family (my son will graduate from Dental School in May 2025), making sure I’m slowing down the stress narrative and just being able to breath in the moment again. Wishing you and your family health, happiness and peace, Azure
The NYSE is looking to extend trading hours to 22 hours a day for US stocks, ETFs, CEFs. Could create pricing anomalies / arbitrage opportunities for ETFs or CEFs whose underlying commons are not trading in the same hours. ( This is great news. My trading day is about 7.5 hours. A tripling of hours would allow me to triple my gains, which is even better than the Extra Cash $2 doubler option in the Pick 5 lottery. )
A strong inexpensive coffee like Cafe Bustelo* is the obvious longer hours play, I am not long JM Smucker SJM but I keep a large stash of Bustelo ready for winter storms, I think of it as “Miami in A Can.” without the hassle of airline travel I admit to having Folgers instant packets around too. Also, an SJM product.
As an investment SJM looks unexciting, 3.7% divvy, 12x PE but it is basically break even on price return over the last year. Commodity prices and availability are risks for food companies – like Hershey with cocoa and sugar. Even if ingredients are available, odd supply chain stuff can happen, like high demand for your chili’s but no cans to put them in. CAG, 2023
*Disclosure: I drink decaf. JMO. DYODD.
BearNJ-
So- no need to sleep 😉 Life is too short – for me to be trading, although I’m guilty of spending too much time at the computer.
I roast my own coffee- a bit tastier– no de-caf.
Thanx BearNJ! I did not know they were going to 22hr a day 130am to 1130pm M-F potentially. Thinking this thru, what is the point of releasing things ‘after hours’ (like earnings, merger news, new issues, etc.) Will companies wait until 1130PM to release?
For me this trading means a more stink bids (low limit by or sell orders) to ‘capture’ a fat finger, some fund selling indiscriminately like they do w/o regard to price and a lot more to think about.
(I use a 2yr old Lenovo Laptop w Edge browser and have no problems personally but I do not have Active Trader Pro w FIDO. MSFT is ‘Copilot’ ing me to death on the Edge and it is annoying. I guess all new ‘puters will have this AI nonsense entering into our lives. Maxwell House French Roast myself. )
Hello Bea. Hope you are well. I use the Opera browser and it has pretty good ad-blockers and you can turn off all the AI and other nonsense that you don’t need or want. You might give it a try. Also, you might give ATP a try too, it’s a great tool for monitoring the markets and your positions. The group here (and of course Fido) can help with any questions.
Hi Rocky, will look into Opera , Edge does free VPN you have to turn it on, and I am set to ‘strict’ tracking protection, blocking cookies and all that good stuff. I turned off Microsoft ‘Copilot’ but fear the new computers will have more stuff built in so I get people who are ‘hanging’ on to old models and software versions. I do miss my old 17.3″ Toshiba when that died bot an HP which wore out the screen was so heavy it pulled away. This Lenovo is pretty good am used to it. Could connect to the big screen TV too if I wanted but no need for now.
It feels like my ‘trades’ are mostly for miners and energy names and maybe 1-2 day at most, not sure advanced software would help me. But thanx again I think I will call FIDO next week, hopefully not get that work from home person w baby screaming and dog barking to discuss ATP!! Really tho last thing I need is more ‘trading’ since 0 commissions I probably trade far more than I should! look out when we get 22hr trading! take care. Bea
I’m the same, I hardly make any trades. But with ATP it let’s you monitor whatever interests you, meaning your holdings, indices, futures, rates, commodities, whatever you like. I just start it up at the beginning of the day and take a glance every once in a while as I sit here working in my home office.
Oh, and Opera also has the free VPN. I just like it because it’s not MSFT or GOOGL.
Tried multiple times to install ATP on a Macbook Pro (2 years old), never got it to boot. ATP would start, then complain I was using an outdated version. So (fulfilling the definition of insanity), I would try to download, install, and run again. Same misbehavior. (Also confirmed I was well within the published system requirements.)
Has anyone else had issues running ATP on a Mac?
Right on that could create interesting opportunities. I wonder if they’re doing it to compete with the overnight exchange Blue Ocean accessible on IBKR and I would guess some other brokers as well.
I have gotten a few interesting overnight fills on Blue Ocean. Often the overnight spread is quite wide on many things, so stink bids occasionally work. Although once the market makers start seeing something get fills, they seem to tighten the spread right up.
Interestingly some tickers on overnight trade with a tighter spread than in normal extended hours. I view it with a slight bit of risk though, as Blue Ocean has busted people’s trades a couple times in the past if there’s been a large overnight move.
My experience at Fidelity has been excellent up until now due to the new trading restrictions they’ve put in place to comply with the market access rule. From what I’ve been told, there has been a rash of fraudulent account “takeovers” at Fidelity which have led to manipulative activity in very thinly traded instruments. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if recent activity in CNTHP was part of this nefarious activity.
That being said, I’m looking to move my account out of Fidelity. However, I don’t want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. Have any of you experienced highly restrictive issues relating to order size in illiquid stocks at other brokerages?
Early bird, I wondered about what was going on at Fido with the sell limits they put in place. Honestly they are about the best place to buy and sell illiqud’s from what I have read here and my own experiences with Schwab & T Rowe unless you go to IBKR from what others have said. But I have also read that the layout there takes some getting used to.
Maybe they have a setup there to simulate trading to try or maybe just do a partial move of some of your holdings to see how you like it.
EarlyBird, IBKR lets you set up a dummy account with play money to test it out. Kind of cool.
EarlyBird,
I’ve been satisfied with Fidelity but yesterday I was trying to sell 100 shares of one of my illiquids, TY-P and they wouldn’t accept my order. I kept getting a message that my order exceeded the maximum number of shares allowed. I had to do a trial and error to figure out how many shares they’d allow and ended up at 75 share. No such problem at Schwab selling the same issue a few days ago but this is not a recommendation for Schwab per se. It seems that all major brokers have issues.
I have the same experience for the last two weeks. For one of my illiquid preferred, the limit’s 50 shares at one point. I found the limit changes every hour (in my case, from 50 shs to 500 shs). Also, I changed my order from “good for the day” to “good until cancel”, the limit changed to 1,000.
Charles, James F and AJ – Thanks for your input.
AJ
This is not a Fidelity issue.
There is a SEC reg that orders cannot exceed 5% of the trading volume for a security.
If the volume on any given day is high, higher orders get accepted.
Low, not.
You will see that you can offer to buy/sell 200 shares in the morning, and it is accepted. Later, in the afternoon, you try to modify with the exact same volume, not accepted.
Encountered that today – 200 shares accepted in the morning, no more than 25 in the afternoon. Low volume.
And yet it’s only at Fido that we’re running into the limitations and guess how many shares you can put an order in for game………..
Westie 18 –
“There is a SEC reg that orders cannot exceed 5% of the trading volume for a security. ”
No there isn’t – Fidelity is making shit up to “protect you” from making money in less liquid stocks, er, placing a market order in a less liquid stock, getting a bad price, and then blaming them for user stupidity. There are rules about 144 stock and insiders but those don’t apply to you and you would know if they did.
Just think about it – if you can’t place a trade for more than 5% of volume, the first trade of the day is illegal! Plus, every other broker for all time and Fidelity up until just a month ago have been violating some SEC rule and no one has ever heard of until now?
Fidelity is the original “nanny broker”, and it sounds like it’s time to show them the door. Etrade and Schwab and Robinhood all still want your business.
xerty, I just did a trade with that 10 min. window with the Fido rep. I had to tell them which account and they were on the line with me while I did the trade. The rep told me they went from 100% average of trades over 120 day window to 10% of a 120 day average on the limit of amount of shares you could put an order in for. They said on these lower volume stocks there was too much manipulation by some traders on the price with buying and selling between different accounts held by same trader.
I just had a conversation with Fidelity regarding this and asked them who they were trying to protect? Its hard enough to make money let alone prohibited from selling a stock that I own or buying one if i have the equity. Furthermore what constitutes a fraudulent account takeover (although it sounds like identify theft)and how does limiting number of shares you can trade prevent it?
The only answer I ever got was “ that’s a really good question.”
No one can ever give me a straight answer. They either don’t know or care.
They’re just salesman don’t have a lot of knowledge. Now go play with your
Phone. That you’re good at.
I got the same answer when I asked the national guardsmen positioned at the airport after 9/11 if their guns were loaded.
@EarlyBird: No restrictions whatsoever in dealing with thinly traded stocks at IBKR. Not in the USA, EU or HK markets.
Michael and costasco – thanks, appreciate the input.
Additionally, to all disgruntled Fidelity customers.
Follow the instructions below if you wish to complain to what’s referred to as the executive team. Was told by Fido rep that this is the only way to have an actual dialogue on the Market Access issue.
1) Go to Secure Message Center. You can get there by going to Fidelity.com and clicking on the messages button next to the bell icon in the upper right hand corner.
2) Next, you will want to click other ways to contact us under the ‘Related Links’ section on the right side of the page.
3) Then, scroll down to the bottom of the page and in the bottom right you will see “Send a Secure Message” click on that button.
4) For the subject line write “written complaint” and you can send email to account services. You can optionally select an account that the complaint pertains to and add screenshots regarding the event.
5) Finally, in the message field explain what we’ve talked about.
The team will generally respond within 1-2 business days.
No they won’t. I never hear back.
This is the response I got back from Fido one week ago. I think it’s useless.
Dear XXXX:
Thank you for contacting Fidelity Investments through our email channel. I am happy to offer my support today.
You received the error message because your order exceeded the volume thresholds for the security you were trading. Such thresholds are put in place to comply with SEC rules to prevent potentially disruptive trading.
To resolve the error message, you may consider placing a limit order or reducing the number of shares in your order. Or if you prefer, you may contact l a Fidelity Trading representative to assist you with the trade by calling 800-544-6666. Representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I appreciate the trust you place in Fidelity to assist you with your investing goals, XXX. I hope you have a nice day.
“No restrictions whatsoever in dealing with thinly traded stocks at IBKR.”
We started seeing restrictions on IBKR this week. I would assume that similar restrictions are coming to all US based trading. Each brokerage might calculation their limits differently from day to day, but all of them will be required to implement some kind of volume restricting limits.
Tex, sounds like the SEC might have some worries about a market event like what happened in the 80’s and is being pre-emptive.
Charles, In other words, “Hi, I am from the Government, and I’m here to help”
“No restrictions whatsoever in dealing with thinly traded stocks at IBKR.”
They have had some restrictions for a while, although their restrictions got somewhat worse just recently and had been starting a few years back.
For example, you used to be able to trade any non-gray market OTC stock. Then a few years ago, they put into “closing trades only” the Pink/Limited tier of stocks, and then shortly after, any OTC stock with any of the OTCM warning flags, and of course when Expert Market came along (Thanks SEC for protecting us by decimating the value of good stocks relegated to EM), you couldn’t buy these either. At least they did let you (try to) sell the ones you might have, or buy if you were short to close out the position.
IB has for a long time had “price caps” where they won’t let you place a limit order too far from the last trade price. This can be quite annoying in less liquid stocks where you actually want to buy or sell across the large spread. The order will automatically change your limit price to the “capped price”, ie a stock is $10 x $14 and you want to buy at $14. Maybe their algo decides $12.16 is the most anyone should pay vs the last trade at $10, so then your order not only doesn’t buy at $14, it shows up in the middle of the spread at $12.16 and maybe scares off the $14 offer too. You can call them and get them to “widen the cap”, but sometimes that’s still not enough and of course in any fast moving situation, calling and waiting for a person is a non-starter. Other brokers are better for trading in these situations.
Speaking of the Expert Market, I met with one of Schwab’s local CFPs in the Asheville area this week to get acquainted and find out if I’d want to eventually switch advisors from my present Schwab rep in Chattanooga.. Since “step-up” issues created by SLMNP being on the Expert Market and “experts” providing an obscenely low price for its valuation on the day of the”step-up,”has been on my mind, we began by talking about that. He’s been a CFP for Schwab for 30 years. He had no idea what the “Expert Market” is. Never heard of it. Aside from that, he is theoretically taking care of some long outstanding issues I’ve had with Schwab over the years, so I will probably make the move anyway.
2WR I was reading the latest Humble Dollar post that came into my mail box. Shout goes out to Azure blue for posting about Jonathan Clements website.
He linked to the Monte Carlo analysis calculator which I played around with.
You know, if the tried and true ways still work why not just keep using them? Very few of us can keep up with the newest things going on in life. At least the internet helps you if you just search on it.
The Schwab CFP you met with might not be up on the latest events and changes in the market but he has 30 years of market experience which is more than the majority of the Schwab reps in their call centers.
One thing I can say is being around the younger generation helps both the younger people and the older ones. I hope moving closer to family you will get to enjoy this.
I agree IBKR’s price management algo can be quite annoying. I’ve not experienced that on any other broker. I’ve had issues opening or closing positions because it won’t allow placing an order at the bid or ask. It just pops up a message about the algo and then maybe places the order slightly below ask or above bid, which then does not fill. Sometimes I have to let the order sit for 5-15 minutes before the algo will finally allow the order price to move to my limit.
It has a box on the order ticket to turn off the price management algo, which their documentation suggests would then result in your order being rejected. But it doesn’t seem to actually do anything. It’ll still place your order, cap the price, and then after it places the order pop up a message saying they limited the price. I would rather know ahead of time that they’re going to limit the price before they place the order.
porcupine, I mentioned my experience with Fidelity trying to close a position and I wanted to place a limit over 9 cents of the ask and it kept saying I was out of the range. I tried several different limits and even signed off and back in. This was approx 3 am WC time or 6 am EC. Later at about 6am WC pre-market I tried again and it let me enter my ask limit order.
I am just guessing but I suspect on low volume stocks the system isn’t allowing any bids or asks outside the last closing price.
Earlybird-
Account takeovers is the worrying thing for me– is that from prior
breaches ? (they’ve had several). I’ve recently locked-down all three accts.
I moved from Schwab – back to Fidelity in June. So far, I’ve only had a problem with wanting municipal CEFs in my IRA or Roth– but no, they don’t allow tax free CEFs in those two- just the taxable. I want them for the nice divs. But- I did get some for the taxable.
Thanks Gary for adding to the conversation.
EB while I don’t trade illiquid pfds, I do very infrequently own and thus trade low volume high insider owned listed SEC compliant stocks and apparently they are doing this on common stocks too. So thanx for heads up and since I use them for everything and have since 1996, time to put my 2c in. Don’t waste your time w calling it is a call center w more turnover than a grocery store deli! Maybe time to start asking for supervisors there and threatening to move millions by a large group of us might wake them up.
it took them years to move Floaters off ‘call in’ to being allowed to buy/sell. The people in fixed income got more calls on these than anything, and commissions were waived or 0, so it was ‘costing’ them a lot of employee time.
If I wanted to get back into MNPP which I rode from 1250 to 1750 plus a few divs post covid, forget it. ‘not allowed’.. ultra thinly traded NY/area r/e founded by Charles Merrill (yes Merrill Lynch) and other wealthy folks, families in NY area. It might trade 1-5 shares a day most days doesn’t. Dumb FIDO.. Bea https://merchantsnationalproperties.com/about-mnpp/
This fidelity issue is quite annoying. I didn’t realize how bad it was until today.
BTW, someone asked if CNTHP has conversion rights; it does not.
Unbelievably, I was way overcharged for accrued interest today on a CUSIP purchase from Schwab on the phone. It’s been corrected. I don’t know how that’s even possible, and I don’t think Schwab is the party doing the calculation. Check everything.
rocks2stocks good advice, and makes me realize how much I have to learn!
I decided to take your advice and double-check the accrued interest on my latest CUSIP purchase from Schwab, and realized that I don’t know how to confirm the coupon dates. CUSIP 89153VAS8 matures 1/10/2025 and has a coupon rate of 2.434%. On 10/23/2024 I paid $70.32 in accrued interest on a $10,000 purchase, so $70.32 x 360 days / $243.40 = 104 days of accrued interest, suggesting that the last coupon date would have been 7/10/2024, six months before maturity, which seems to be consistent with a semi-annual coupon. But where would I be able to confirm that the bond actually does pay semi-annually? The FINRA site doesn’t seem to have coupon dates.
Rocks, not sure this is relevant to your story or not but I’ve received a number of “corrections” from Schwab to purchases of bonds several months ago.
With short term rates mostly likely continuing to fall AND long term rates possibly going up, I am trying to adjust my preferred portfolio (around 20 issues). I have been shedding low coupon, Investment grade perpetuals especially if they have run up / become fully valued. I have also taken on more term preferred (inc BB’s).
I do not think going into floating rate issues will be helpful since they are pinned to the short-end and will follow that side down (in rate). I was curious about taking on some reset rate issues pinned to the 5 / 10 year. Thoughts?
A good plan. My thinking is that short rates — controlled by the Fed — will continue to drop, as advertised. My concern is that long rates will eventually rise, likely sharply – although unevenly and unpredictably along the way — as the dollar continues to fall in value. (Three thin insurance company letters each with 35-48% annual increases was a wake up call.)
I don’t have a plan in place for the long end. ( I remember the runaway inflation years ago, I never had a good hedge for it. ) I continue to hold dividend payers. With short rates going down, I am not yet worried about price erosion On the short end, I did lengthen the average maturity of cash and cash-like to capture the higher short rates. JMO. DYODD.
FWIW-
Southwest Airlines has reached a settlement with Elliott Mgmt to put 6 board members in place & reduce the total to 13. The CEO stays, but the Chairman and 6 members are out 11/1 (accelerated). LUV is off ~ 3.5%
( not holding LUV )
Side note- American is testing software at the gate to keep people from jumping boarding classes.
News yesterday that home sales are at a 14 yr low as of Sept. and we are moving into the winter months. I believe delinquencies and defaults have also increased. These is not as bad post Covid but if the economy slows and loans from 2yrs ago that had teaser rates that expire this could go up.
The RITM preferreds offer an odd contrast. RITM-B went from coupon 7.125% to 10+% when it started floating at 3mL+5.64% in August. Seems ripe for a call, but no call.
Right behind -B is RITM-C with coupon 6.375% (CY 6.6%) and a Feb call plus float to 3mL+4.969%. Has a high YTC but is not vulnerable with -B outstanding. Buy now for the float in 4 months?
RITM-D has coupon 7% (CY 7.3%) and 2026 call plus reset to 5yy+6.223%.
Barron’s: Preferred Stocks Have Been Topping the Charts. Now They Look Expensive.
https://archive.ph/qHPUl
Thanks Ken–everyone piled in. I have most issues 2-3% overvalued. Thanks for the post.
“The preferred market might look rich but the situation may not change soon. “There is strong demand for tax-efficient investment solutions,” Baker says, ticking off preferred stock, municipal bonds, and some real-estate investments. “There’s no catalyst for spread widening,” which would mean lower prices for preferred and wider yields relative to Treasuries.”
If you sell today and if the above blurb is correct you may very well not find replacements unless the market has some turmoil. They also mentioned mote redemption than issuance compounding the dilemma. After the recent run up I still think it is too early to start selling. Just as longer rates fell quickly… now they are going back up too quickly. Must be a crowded trade?
Fc –
The supply/demand issue pointed out in the article definitely holds true. I like and prefer to invest in property REIT preferreds backed by hard assets and good balance sheets. I can’t recall even one being issued in the last 2 years beyond NSA-B? My universe of property REIT preferreds has definitely shrunk in the last 5 years. I had large positions in the Realty Income (O) and Centerspace (CSR) preferreds that were recently redeemed, and finding good yielding alternatives has been challenging.
“The $25-par market has been especially strong this year because issuance has totaled about $7 billion, compared with $9 billion of redemptions, and because of continued demand from individual investors. Recent levels for the ICE BofA indexes show the $25-par sector is up 13.1% this year, compared with 10.6% for the $1,000-par preferred market.”
I’ve been using the 1000 issues (resets seem moderately advantageous since the spread is defined) and sold most of the 25 issues because the spreads are tight and the trade seems almost over. I could be happy with current treasury or tips rates with defined maturities (tips have nice hedge, of course), and use MTBA because of the rating and the historically high mortgage spread. Would be happy enough to see spreads revert to whatever average applies and buy some more, and happy enough to hang out on the short end for a while because I can. ENB common was about 400 bps above treasury last October and look at 220bps now so I left that trade too…might buy EPD if it softens and like the leverage and free cash flow character of the common unit where it stand but would rather buy lower.
thanks for all of your various insight and teaching and enjoy reading along with you and hearing your thoughts.
Hey jbosch,
I have a couple of thousand EPD. Great investment, but its an MLP.
I am sitting in a waiting room (again) with nothing to do, so I am going to pontificate a bit about MLPs (nothing personal, I am just bored).
You probably know, but for those who don’t know, DON’T hold MLPs in a retirement account. They throw off UBTI (which can hit you every year) and you will get hit with big UBTI recapture when you sell (and you won’t even avoid it if you die – no step up in basis in retirement accounts). I got some MLPs in an inherited account and it took me a decade to slowly sell them off (keeping UBTI under $1K/year).
So, its great to hold in a taxable account, but its a “hold until you die” issue. If you ever sell, you get hit with “recapture” of all the tax benefits you received from distributions during the whole time you owned it. Very nasty.
Also, you have to trust that management isn’t going to sell the company. If they do, you also get hit with recapture. I got hit with this mess when MMP got sold and the racapture was pretty painful.
That said, I continue to hold my EPD and hope it just keeps chugging along.
One other quirk of MLPs – I still have to buy a few shares periodically to keep my capital account positive. if you go negative, the distributions become taxable.
That all said, there are MLPs that choose to be taxed as corporations (issue a 1099) like KRP – so you can avoid the MLP tax mess.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
Just to be sure, do you have to file state tax returns for all the states listed on the k-1? Or does that require holding a ton of shares to hit the minimums? Thanks!
Personally, I just ignore tax filings in states where I don’t already file. If a state ever decides to come after me for not filing, I will deal with it.
Private, Keep sharing thoughts whenever bored….. very nice post.
Yeah, they’re all in a taxable account and the basis will be zero in 5-7 years if I don’t top them up over that period of time. It’s a wait until step up basis sort of investment and makes no sense otherwise. K1 doesn’t bother me and I might even be willing to pay to hedge them with far otm options if they get too big relative to the portfolio. My relatively neophyte take is that it’s only worth using ET and EPD because they are so large they are less likely to be taken over like Magellan and the families that own majority stake have a disincentive to do it.
jbosch
I am with you.
I believe the reason the family that controlled MMP sold the company is that the guy who owned most of the units died and the family got a big step up in basis on those units. So, it made sense for them to sell it all while they could to avoid taxes.
Same strategy we are following, but on a bigger scale (and it hurt all the other unit holders).
I understand why they did it, I just didn’t like it.
I unwittingly bought 3000 shares of EPD in an IRA about 20 years ago and have held it ever since. It’s never generated sufficient UBTI to trigger any taxes (in fact I can’t recall it generating any UBTI but I wasn’t paying much attention until a few years ago). Last year I sold 100 shares to see if there would be any tax consequences and there haven’t been. This year I sold 300 shares and will know the results of that next year. My plan is to cycle about 10-20% of the shares each year to readjust the cost basis. That said, I’m just sharing my experience, not any knowledge or advice as I have no tax expertise. After holding it so long without any tax consequences I just haven’t been motivated not to continue holding it. Those who own a lot more shares may of course have a different experience.
EPD is the only MLP I currently own. I have it in a taxable Account and Roth IRAs (both mine and my husbands).
After MMP was merged last year and lost MLP status and became a taxable event, I no longer want to own MLPs in IRAs. Vanguard did the tax form and the $ owed in taxes was not as bad as expected.
I sold some shares of EPD in the IRAs already in 2024. You can sign into tax package with EDP and download 2023 to see where you stand on cumulative adjustments, etc.
Hi Barb.
Again, I don’t give tax advice, but I have been down the path of owning MLPs in an IRA I inherited.
In your K-1 (which is available, as you point out, at tax package support), you can see how much UBTI recapture selling your shares was reported.
Based on that, you can calculate how much you can “afford” to sell from an IRA each year to avoid generating too much of that nasty recapture each year and having the IRS “whack” you.
Because recapture it is treated as UBTI in an IRA (incl. roths), the broker has to file a tax return (990T, IIRC) on your behalf and pay the taxes owed from your IRA if the total amount of UBTI exceeds $1000 in the tax year. Unfortunately, there is no way I know of to deduct or otherwise use the tax amount paid from the IRA. it is just lost.
Personally, I didn’t realize the problems of owning an MLP in an IRA for several years after I inherited, so I had built up enough “losses and ROC” to be a problem if I just sold it all. So, I calculated how much I could sell each year to “work off” the MLPs in my IRA without paying taxes (by keeping UBTI below $1K/year). It took me more than 10 years to finally get it all sold (sold the last bit earlier this year).
2Chinooks
I don’t give individual tax advice to anyone, but you have me curious, and since I am once again spending a couple of hours in a waiting room, I will pontificate once again.
The main tax benefit of an MLP is that you get distributions every year that are labelled as something tax beneficial like return of capital. That usually means you don’t pay taxes on the distributions each year as they are received. The catch is that all that “tax benefit” gets recorded in the MLP’s records (generally, reducing your cost basis) and you can be required to pay taxes on the accumulated benefit when the your units are sold.
FWIW, this continuing reduction in your basis as you receive distributions is why you have to buy units periodically to “top up” your capital account. If it goes to zero, your distributions will become taxable. Not the worst thing, but is can mean that you have to buy units at higher prices than you would like…
It sounds to me like you may not be processing your K-1 correctly, or you are just not seeing what is happening (or I am completely misreading things, which is always possible since I am just sticking my nose in).
If you sold a couple of hundred units, you should have seen recapture profits (taxable as ordinary income). It would show in your K-1 – but it won’t be labelled as recapture. Usually shows in your basis for the units.
There is a good overview of MLP taxes at https://content.rwbaird.com/RWB/Content/PDF/Help/Taxation-Master-Limited-Partnerships-FAQs.pdf
I don’t understand your comment about readjusting cost basis.
-If your units have gains, selling them and repurchasing will adjust your cost basis higher, but you will pay taxes on the capital gain income this year, and you will pay taxes on the recapture associated with those units (you will see ordinary income). If you just hold them, you won’t pay until you sell, and your heirs won’t pay if there is a step up in basis at death. I don’t understand why you would want to accelerate paying taxes.
-If your units have losses, selling them and repurchasing (and waiting 31 days to avoid a wash sale) would let you realize the capital loss, but you would get hit with recapture (usually shows in your basis in the K-1), which would be taxed as ordinary income. Not sure you would come out ahead (overall), but again, I don’t know (or want to know) your overall tax situation.
Bottom line is that MLP taxes can be messy. Hopefully someone who understands taxes better than I do can chime in and correct the mistakes in what I have said (there are a lot smarter folks on this board, and people who understand taxes WAY better than I do.)
Anyway, you should do what works for you. If you are happy with your path forward, that is great!
Private, first of all thank you for taking the time to provide your thoughts and insight on this situation. I have no tax expertise at all and since EPD is in an IRA I don’t need to file a K1 as I do for my MLPs in taxable accounts. However I do look at the K1s to see what the UBTI is each year to see if it comes close to the $1000 limit. Your thoughtful comments prompted me to go back and look at the 2023 tax package when I sold 100 shares as a test. Although there was a gain subject to recapture of $985 the UBTI was -$3471. I went back and looked at the 2021 and 2022 K1s and they also showed a negative UBTI. I’ve sold 300 more shares this year and I guess I’ll see what happens. Again, I may be doing this all wrong but I’m just reporting my own personal experience as I know there are others who hold MLPs in IRAs.
And yes you’re absolutely right about missing out on the primary tax deferral benefit of an MLP, but EPD has been such a reliable and steady performer that I feel as long as it never throws off UBTI then I’m content with keeping this as a permanent holding. And thanks for providing the link, it’s much appreciated.
Hey Private,
Great post. What is the math on the “keeping capital account positive”? I am assuming you have to look at how much is a return of capital each year or something.
Yield Hunter
Yes and no. look at your most recent K-1. In box L “Partner’s Capital Account Analysis” you will see your “Ending capital account” for that year.
Your capital account goes down not only for distributions received but also for your share of losses reported. The MLP does all the calculations for you and they are shown in that same box L.
when your balance hits zero, the taxation on your distributions changes.
So, you have to watch for buying opportunities to periodically “top up” your account.
FYI
Bill Gross on MLP benefits.
https://williamhgross.com/somebody-stop-me/
FWIW, we have long term positions in ET, MPLX and EPD in the taxable account.
That’s fun to see Bill Gross discuss it. A close friend and grain miller had a spouse who worked for Marathon, and I’ve seen a bit of the ‘unlocking shareholder value’ elements to the lawsuits that broke up upstream, midstream and downstream … he was also convinced these were part of the way to create a retirement income….ET, EPD and MPLX are the only ones I’ll consider using.
Fc…. I have several my trigger finger is getting itchy on! The poster child is Lincoln Financial Group Series D 9.00% LNC-D, which has a capital gain of nearly 7 times the quarterly divy. The only problem is it a 9% preferred at the par price. What the heck do I buy to replace it!?
dj–same issue here. The price will trend lower at some point in time as the optional redemption date approaches, but that is 3 years out yet.
Tim….. I bought LNC-D after looking at it when you mentioned buying it in a post! We are in the same boat as we paid about the same for it I guess. Wish I had bought more as usual when one works out this well.
better problem to have when you have sold it 28.42 rather than 25 if called
the ytc on lnc-p assuming a stripped price of 28 is 4.87%..could replace it with a us treasury
What does the article mean when it says “Another indication of how expensive $25-par issues have become is that adjusted for issuers’ right to redeem the shares, yields are lower than on comparable Treasury debt. This is known as the option-adjusted spread, or OAS. “?
Is this talking only about investment grade preferred stock that are both callable and trading over (or very close to) par? Or does this apply to all of them, and I’m not understanding how OAS is calculated?
1, 2, 5 and 7 year Treasury auctions are coming up on October 28 and 29. Banks may have cut CD rates too deep too quickly. I compared Treasury rates last night with brokered CDs advertised as “New issue CDs by top rates.” As of last night, Treasuries had an edge. (You can of course shop around for promo CD rates bank by bank or buy brokered callables with high teaser rates. I compared Treasuries against a brokered list then looked for the best non-callables.)
3-month and 6-month Treasuries beat brokered CDs advertised as “New issue CDs by top rates.”
1-year Treasuries beat non-callable brokered CDs
2-year Treasuries beat non-callable brokered CDs
5-year Treasuries beat non-callable brokered CDs
7-year Treasury, insufficient data, beats 6 & 8 year non callable CDs
U.S. 3 Month Treasury rate as of last night
4.644%
U.S. 6 Month Treasury
4.499%
U.S. 1 Year Treasury
4.286%
U.S. 2 Year Treasury
4.054%
U.S. 5 Year Treasury
4.03%
U.S. 7 Year Treasury
4.125%
Fidelity MMF SPAXX
4.51%
Vanguard MMF VMFXX
4.78%
Shop around. YMMV. Current prediction is an 88% chance of a 0.25% rate cut in 2 weeks. JMO. DYODD.
Thank you BearNJ. Along these lines (of your benevolent suggestion): some credit unions update CD offerings on the 1st day of month. I was able to get a CD on Sept 30 at the rate locked on Sept 1 (5.0%, 5mo). CU rep told me on Sept 30 what offerings would be for October (4.6%, 7mo). I will be calling again on Oct 31. Borrowing your sign-off: JMO, DYODD
You can get better rates if you shop around individual banks and credit unions, but brokered bank CDs rates were easier to use as a benchmark for comparison. Direct purchases from banks are generally non-callable which is an advantage over many brokered CDs. Direct buy CDs may have early withdrawal penalties, but you can mitigate the risk by splitting your purchase in half. Good work on your 5.0% find!
JMO. DYODD.
BearNJ-
I like watching trends in CD and agency yields as a way to monitor the rate environment.
My interpretation of the callable CD market of late is banks pulling way back on risk exposure. JPM was the leader in aggressive rates during the rate rally, then dropped them like a hot potato. Lately, I’ve seen JPM at 5.5%, above the crowd. Competition for CD money can be fierce at times.
Thought I’d ask about/re-visit the question of a call for ALL-B since it has been floating for 21 months & is the highest yield they have that can be called (one other). Off almost a buck from Sep high- big drop on 9/19.
Hmm… no longer seeing any search feature here.
Thoughts?
I have looked at months back …. did nothing.
At the current $25.95 & a .56c qtr divi ….. maybe I have wrong ticker / data.
I can see a search box, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
I sold my ALL-B when it blipped up into the $26.7x, worried about the call. Still trading near $26, so I guess a lot of folks aren’t worried.
I think I figured out at least part of the problem with the search box. It doesn’t work for a search term “all” or “all-b”. it seems to work for other terms (like jpm),
I suspect there is a filter on search inputs to keep people from searching for terms that might would return HUGE amounts of data (like searching for “all” – meaning everything) or might otherwise mess up the database. Just a guess from (as my guys have named me), “the world’s worst programmer”.
Guess Tim’s programmer reads XKCD https://xkcd.com/327/
That said, the search still seems to return results in random order, so it is not very useful, but it seems to be working as it always has.
Private—hum–I am meeting with the tech guy in November so can bring this up. Any further data you have on the issue would be helpful.
Not sure if either of these updates were mentioned, but sharing just in case.
Both “Gridbird” specials.
MSEXP – my pref shares were converted to common (restricted) as of 10/18. This was the first batch I converted, after putting the pressure on IBKR.
SJIJ- still no option to tender via Schwab. Schwab initially told me it would be available yesterday, now they are saying by the end of the week. Kind of a tight turn around time. I am converting, and adding to the 2031 notes, taxes be damned.
Maine, come on, bring the Grid back, you & others are a great team.
Gotta like the 2031 issue.
I bot LANDP at 21.07 for 7.12 current yield .. the landp/pff pair has gone from 2 sigma rich in august to 2 sigma cheap today.. good article on S/A..will add on weakness
LANDP callable, but market not anticipating a call.
Why would it?
mj-
I don’t know anything about LANDP other than it’s a farmland REIT. In general, I think issuers don’t make calls as long as paying the coupon continues to be the best choice for the company. At 6% LANDP might be a good deal for Gladstone. BWDIK?
why would ANY issuer call a preferred if they can buy it in the market at a significantly lower price ?
To get it completely off its books for any reason, perhaps covenant related as an example… A company will never be able to buy 100% of an outstanding issue in the open market.
My point about LANDP was not about the issuer but the market price as set by traders. It’s the traders who don’t anticipate a call. If they did, the price would be near par.
How about LANDP vs LANDO – pretty comparable now that they are both trading post call date, no?
LANDO has consistently been priced higher for months. I don’t know why, they pay the same dividend.
Does anyone here have thoughts on RJF-B? It has been trading around par + the accrued dividend over the last several days.
I’ve been adding a little at this price
I like it, for a spot to hang out and collect the qualified div.
Highly likely to be called.
I own RJF/PRB. It is one of my safer holdings, and I am sure it will be called before its float date of 7/1/2026.
RJF.PRB/PFF pair has gone from 2 sigma rich in October 2023 to near 2 sigma cheap today (3yr horizon) …
current of yield of 6.33 is uninteresting to me as is floating at 3month libor in july 2026
2025 tax info is out:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/22/irs-2025-capital-gains-brackets.html
Transcript of Oct 17 interview with Ed Yardeni.
https://invezz.com/news/2024/10/17/interview-ed-yardeni-says-us-fed-cut-interest-rates-too-much-too-soon/#
Besides the usual suspects that will spill the beans before the Nov 6 FOMC decision (PCE, NFP), there’s the Treasury QRA next week on Monday and Wednesday.
The only surprise I can see coming from the FOMC would be to not cut and say future cuts will be data dependent. IOW, step off the rate cut down escalator until further notice. Seems unlikely, but that’s why it would be a surprise.
An interesting comment regarding private credit from the FITB CEO.
https://x.com/pboockvar/status/1848343633788825909
yeah private credit house of cards ‘Margin Call’ movie again..not liquid.. when I read Life Insurance Co’s are looking at this I was concerned. “matching maturity to actuarial needs’..yikes.. hopefully the money’s there. I hope on conf calls some analysts ask the public co’s are they using private credit in their portfolio mix. ‘It’s different this time’…omg.
KTH @ 29.88???????????
KTH has traded very strong over the last couple days. Last week, KTH was one of my largest positions. Not so much after today. I think my average selling price was around $29.75 (around 5.18% stripped YTM).