Morning Commentary: Liquidity limited to start month; First Republic, CIT deals free to trade

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, June 1 – The preferred stock market was starting out the new month a little hesitant, due in part to desks being empty.

In addition to it being a shortened holiday week for Memorial Day, Wednesday marked the beginning of the Jewish holiday Shavuot. Given the holidays, some market players have opted to take the week off, market sources reported.

The new issue space – which had been trying to push out paper earlier in the week – also took a break.

“There’s probably nothing new for the rest of the week,” a trader said, adding that he wasn’t hearing any talk of deals for the coming week either.

“But it appears to be a good time to bring everything because it all pops out and trades at a premium,” he said.

As for the week’s deals, First Republic Bank’s $200 million of 5.125% series H noncumulative preferreds – a deal priced Wednesday – were seen at $24.95 bid, par offered in early dealings.

A trader noted that the issue had freed from the syndicate.

CIT Group Inc.’s $325 million of 5.8% $1,000-par series A fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds also freed to trade after pricing on Wednesday.

The paper was “trading really strong,” according to one trader, who saw the preferreds in a 102 to 102.125 context.

From Tuesday’s business, DDR Corp.’s $175 million of 6.375% class A cumulative redeemable preferred shares were holding at $24.98 bid, par offered.

“Trading has kind of dried up in that one; nobody’s paying attention to that one right now,” a trader remarked.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.