Apollo Global frees to trade, holds steady; Chimera preferreds list on NYSE; GSEs higher

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, March 1 – The preferred stock market was starting the new month with a weaker tone, even as the rest of the market was inching higher on increasing expectations of an interest rate hike later this month.

“We were down a little bit with the bond market selling off,” one trader said.

“Yes, we followed Treasuries lower, but we significantly outperformed them,” said another market source.

Still, there was some improvement over the course of the day.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index closed down 27 basis points, through it was down 41 bps at mid-morning. The U.S. iShares Preferred Stock index was meantime 21 bps lower, compared to off 43 bps in earlier dealings.

Apollo Global Management LLC’s $250 million of 6.375% series A preferred stock – a deal priced Tuesday – freed to trade early in the day, according to a market source.

A source said the preferred ended the day at $24.90, which was also the volume weighted average price.

Meanwhile, Chimera Investment Corp.’s $300 million of 8% series B fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as was expected.

The ticker is “CIMPrB.” The deal priced Feb. 22.

The issue ended at $24.89, which compared to $24.95 at the open.

Deeper in the secondary, GSE preferreds were “catching a bid,” a trader said.

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