Aspen Insurance closes under par; Allstate preferreds positive; Annaly Capital lower

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Aug. 7 –Wednesday trading in the preferred space spent the day in negative territory.

On its first day, Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.’s new $250 million 5.625% non-cumulative preferred shares finished under par.

Elsewhere, Allstate Corp.’s recent 5.1% series H fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock and 6.625% series E fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds saw gains.

Meanwhile, Annaly Capital Management, Inc.’s 6.75% series I fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferreds were pushed lower.

In communications, Qwest Corp.’s 6.5% notes due 2056 joined the negative trend.

Finance name Wells Fargo & Co.’s 5.85% series Q fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual class A preferreds declined.

Aspen below par

On its first day of trading, Aspen Insurance’s new $250 million 5.625% non-cumulative preferred shares finished below par.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “AHLNF,” were seen closing at $24.95 on volume of about 2.4 million shares.

The deal priced on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the insurance space, Allstate’s recent 5.1% series H fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock and 6.625% series E fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds both saw small gains.

The series H preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “ALLZL,” were up 3 cents to $25.20 with about 980,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds garnered 10 cents.

The series E preferreds (NYSE: ALLPrE) improved by 1 cent to close at $25.33 with about 208,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds were level.

Annaly Capital lower

Real estate investment trust Annaly Capital’s 6.75% series I fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferreds were pushed lower.

The preferreds (NYSE: NLYPrI) declined by 22 cents to close at $25.45 on volume of about 243,000 shares.

Qwest off

In communications, Qwest’s 6.5% notes due 2056 followed the negative trend.

The notes (NYSE: CTBB) dropped 7 cents to close at $24.13 with about 211,000 notes trading.

Wells Fargo declines

Finance name Wells Fargo’s 5.85% series Q fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual class A preferreds also saw a decline.

The preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrQ) were down 10 cents to $26.28 on volume of about 179,000 shares.

Indexes down

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index ended the session 0.44% lower, widening the 0.27% drop seen earlier Wednesday.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was down 12 cents to $36.90.

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