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Preferreds mixed in light trading; Bank of America 'marginally weaker' on Countrywide news
By Andrea Heisinger
New York, Dec. 21 - There was little to no trading volume on Wednesday in the preferred stock market, and no new deals priced.
"There's absolutely nothing happening," a trader said. "We're basically just holding the chairs down."
He also said there is "no trading volume whatsoever."
Another trader said the market was "mixed to flat," and the preferreds that improved were up about 18 basis points, or "not even a 5 cents difference."
"Volume was moderate to light, as you'd expect for a holiday week," he said. "Some stuff's getting done."
Even bank names weren't moving tighter or wider in any notable fashion.
Bank of America Corp. paper was "marginally weaker," a source said. The company's preferreds had fallen on Monday before rebounding slightly on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, news came that the bank had settled for $335 million in a case over lender discrimination at its Countrywide Financial unit.
European banks were "marginally higher," the source later added.
"It's only 15 cents here or there."
A market source said that trading was "pretty slow."
First Niagara active
First Niagara Financial Group Inc.'s recent $350 million issue of series B noncumulative perpetual preferreds was trading up.
The fixed-to-floating-rate preferreds sold Dec. 7 by First Niagara led the most actively traded shares at the close, a trader said.
About 633,000 of the preferreds traded, and they ended flat at $25.30.
Coming in behind this was a preferred from ING Groep NV, which saw 557,000 preferreds traded and ended up 10 cents on the day at $18.80.
Next up was Bank of America's series H preferreds with 542,000 preferreds traded. They ended the day up 13 cents at $21.98. This activity was likely due to the Countrywide news, the trader said.
The Merrill Lynch series Q preferreds saw 405,000 shares traded and were up 6 cents on the day at $21.96.
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