Midday Commentary: Preferred stock market treads water as quarter ends; Seaspan notes doing well

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, March 31 - The quarter-end session was starting out on the quiet side for preferred stocks, a trader said Monday.

The trader said that not only had no new deals been announced but that the secondary was "quiet - everything is pretty much flat."

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index was up 32 basis points at mid-morning.

He was surprised that the primary pipeline was not growing, as he believed the market was in the right position to take advantage of a heavy deal flow.

"Especially after the stress tests," he said, noting that it is usually the case that banks will call older issues and then issue "true preferreds" in their place. But since the results came out, Citigroup Inc. was the only one to announce a large call.

However, the bank has not announced a new issue.

From last week's business, Seaspan Corp.'s $300 million of 6.375% $25-par notes due 2019 were seen in a $25.20 to $25.40 range early in Monday trading.

The deal priced late Thursday and freed to trade early Friday.

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