Midday Commentary: Market firmer as week draws to close; Allstate's 6.75% preferreds hit NYSE

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Oct. 4 - Preferred stocks were trading up as of midday on Friday, though a trader lamented a lack of activity.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index was up 10 basis points by noon ET.

"Everything has listed," the trader said, as Allstate Corp.'s $350 million of 6.75% series C fixed-rate noncumulative perpetual preferreds - which came Sept. 23 - hit the New York Stock Exchange.

The issue was the last of recently priced deals to be admitted to the exchange.

The ticker symbol is "ALLPC" and paper was trading at $24.98 at midday, unchanged from the previous session.

Early in the session, Box Ships Inc. announced that it had priced an $8.5 million follow-on offering to its 9% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferreds.

The preferreds were sold at $24.00 per share, which compared to Thursday's closing share price of $24.35. The company originally sold $13.95 million of the preferreds on July 26 at a discounted price of $24.00 per share.

The issue (NYSE: TEUPC) traded off 40 cents, or 1.64%, by midday to $23.95.

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