Markets were quiet overall on Friday with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto up 0.1%.
But American Express was up a stout 7.1% after releasing earnings and a strong outlook.
Preferred shares have been doing well.
The two Brookfield Office Property preferred shares on out list were up 5.6% and 3.3%.
I noticed that CWB.PR.B is back to $20. These shares had briefly hit $25 in December 2021 before tumbling to a low of $16.20 last Spring. (Looking back, I’m glad to see I had them rated as a Sell at $24.72 near the end of 2021.) They are set to reset on April 30. An ideal scenario here would be if the 5 year Canada bond stays high until then so they reset at a high level but then interest rates fall after that so that the high dividend would be more attractive. The “spread” on these (see report on Subscriber Home Page) is moderate at 2.76% and so they not get back to $25. I do not expect CWB to redeem these at $25 on April 30 although that is a possibility. The current yield at $20 is only 5.4% but they are now trading based on the fact that the dividend and yield is likely to reset significantly higher on April 30. (This depends on the 5 year Canada bond yield at that time – it’s currently 3.6% but is generally expected to be lower at the end of April.)
The perpetual preferred shares have also done well this month and that’s somewhat surprising given that interest rates (such at the yield on the 5 year Canada bond) have rebounded quite a bit this month.