Preferreds gain in early trades, sink by the bell; Valley National gets temporary symbol

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, June 18 – Preferred stocks were edging higher early Thursday but came in around mid-afternoon, according to a market source.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index finished down 26 basis points. The index was up 10 bps at mid-morning.

“I’m not sure what did that,” a market source said of the market’s reversal. “I tend to think it’s the Greek situation, but I’m not 100% sure.”

The source said there were a myriad headlines floating around that weren’t necessarily giving a clear picture of what had occurred. He said that some reports indicated that Greece and its European creditors were “close to a deal,” another said there was no deal, yet another indicated that no further meetings were planned, but then came word of meeting – either planned for Friday or Monday – of the European Central Bank.

“The headlines were all over the place,” he said.

Given the fluctuating nature of the trading day, volume was “not so good,” according to the source.

Valley National Bancorp’s new $115 million of 6.25% series A fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds – a deal priced Tuesday – were seen “hovering” in a $24.87 to $24.90 area early in the day, according to one trader.

By the end of business, the paper came back up to par, unchanged day over day.

The deal freed to trade on Wednesday and was also assigned a temporary trading symbol, “VLNBP.”

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