Preferred stocks end weaker again; U.S. Cellular notes free to trade; Public Storage gains

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Dec. 2 – After getting hammered in the previous session, preferred stocks were staging a modest comeback in early Tuesday trading.

However, those early gains disappeared shortly after midday.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index closed off 4 basis points. At mid-morning, the index was up 2 bps.

On Monday, the index closed down 28 bps, or about 7 cents on average for $25-par issues.

United States Cellular Corp.’s $275 million of 7.25% senior unsecured notes due 2063 freed from the syndicate around midday, according to a trader.

The deal came Monday, upsized from $200 million and at the tight end of talk.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC ran the books.

The trader saw the issue trading in a $24.58 to $24.60 context early in the day. After freeing up, the paper was quoted at $24.57 bid, $24.62 offered.

Meanwhile, Public Storage’s $175 million of 5.875% series A cumulative perpetual preferreds were holding on to the previous day’s gains – and even managed to gain a little bit more.

The preferreds finished the day up a nickel at $24.95.

The deal priced Nov. 20.

Several redemptions were announced on Tuesday, including one from DRA CRT Acquisition Corp.

The New York-based company plans to redeem its 8.5% series A cumulative redeemable preferreds (OTCBB: DCAQP) on Jan. 2.

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