Syria concerns keep preferreds quiet; big day for dividends; Zions sees high volumes

By Christine Van Dusen

Atlanta, Aug. 28 - The preferred stock market remained mostly quiet on Wednesday in light of continued concern about the turmoil in Syria and ahead of the Labor Day holiday in the United States.

"There have been some downticks, but that's because so many issues paid out their dividends today," a trader said. "About 70 to 80 issues went to dividend today."

In early trading on Wednesday, Zions Bancorporation's 9½% series C noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: ZBPC) were unchanged at $24.98. Trading volume totaled 511,606 shares early in the session.

HSBC Holdings plc's 8 1/8% exchangeable perpetual subordinated capital securities were quoted at $25.78 early in the session, down by 2 cents. Trading volume totaled 59,864.

And HSBC's 6.2% non-cumulative preference shares climbed 16 cents in early trading, to $24.43 on 53,465 in volume.

"There's nothing really pushing our markets one way or another," the trader said.

Toward the end of Wednesday's session, Zions' issue remained unchanged on trading volume of 1.14 million.

MetLife Inc.'s 6½% non-cumulative preferred stock (NYSE: METPB) moved up 27 cents at the end of the day to trade at $24.79 on trading volume of 292,734.

And Wells Fargo & Co.'s 8% non-cumulative perpetual preferreds (NYSE: WFCPJ) ticked up 7 cents to $28.32 on trading volume totaling 244,429.

Investors staying light

The market is expected to pick up in the next couple of weeks, a trader said, but any activity will likely be on pause until after the Rosh Hashana holiday beginning Sept. 4.

"Generally, after Labor Day, it's going to be a little bit sleepy," he said. "But there is going to be a huge offering book of corporates for September, one of the largest in a while, so that will probably put a lot of pressure on secondary issues."

Investors are staying light in advance of that and also while they wait to see how things pan out with Syria. It's likely they'll make a flight to quality given the instability in the Gulf region, he said

"Nobody wants to step in and buy stuff with the news that's out there," he said.

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