Well the durable goods numbers came in super strong today at +.9% versus a forecast of -1%–that’s a giant swing and supports interest rates right where they are as the 10 year treasury is trading at a 4.35% yield which is up a few basis points. Honestly I think this number is a fluke–I think future orders were pulled ahead as some folks wanted to get in purchases before tariffs kick in on April 2nd. Personally I had not given a thought to running out and buying stuff to beat the tariff, but some folks did–I know because we had one of our daughters and son in law go out and buy a car ‘to beat the tariffs’. Well maybe I am a dummy but I didn’t go out and buy so much as a candy bar to beat tariffs–think we will survive.
Equity markets are trading lower after starting the day stronger–just guessing folks are worried about rates heading higher–I know I have some ‘red’ in portfolios today–pretty minor amounts. Last night I was perusing the dividends and interest amounts that will hit the accounts next week and it is a pretty big number and will minimally keep me on track with a 1/2%–or maybe even .6% gain for March.
Today I did a little housekeeping in accounts. I booked my worst losses in a couple years by selling off 2 tiny positions in the Brighthouse Financial (BHF)Preferreds. I had originally had much larger positions, but had sold the majority of the shares in December and January which had losses at the time. I kept a tiny bit of each as place holders to remind me in case I wanted to re-buy. Certainly I have no intention of ever holding these shares again since the company has announced some months ago they were trying to sell the company thus there would be a prospect of a delisting of the shares. Below are the issues I finished selling.
Brighthouse Financial 6.60% Preferred (BHFAP)
Brighthouse Financial 5.375% Preferred (BHFAN)
Bought BHFAL for 21.70 in Jan 24. Sold in Jan 25 when price was dropping for a nice gain. With today’s price of 21.36 it’s paying 7.3%. Is it really that bad? Sometimes there are opportunities when prices are dropping. Probably not a good buy but worth some research.
Tim, I sold the BHFAM at about my cost and a few dividends collected.
I also liquidated 1/2 of a inherited insurance policy with them last year. It is paying 1/2 what I was getting on the dividend from the preferred. I plan on closing out the policy with them and putting it to better use.
Charles–good for you getting out. If they do get bought I would expect shares to fall another 2 dollars regardless of whether they get delisted or not.
When and if they announce that they are selling and who to, all the preferred and the BB may drop several dollars or hold steady. For now I will just watch.
Well, sitting here reading a WSJ article about retailers stockpiling goods in an attempt to blunt tariff impacts. I would expect the next round of reports to swing significantly the other way as long as the next hour doesn’t bring a change in tariff “Policy” ( there is a policy?!). The article goes on to mention retailers are switching frm JIT (Just In Time) inventory management to JIC (Just In Case). Haven’t heard JIC since I worked in a textile finishing plant in the 1980s that was trying to reduce in process inventory one of the department managers stated that to me when I asked why some rolls of cloth were stored off in a corner of his department. Sure glad I’m retired now and not trying to manage the current manufacturing / retail climate out there!