Preferred investors playing waiting game as market continues to be soft; REITs active

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Oct. 9 - The preferred stock market remained under pressure on Wednesday, though selling was not aggressive, a trader said.

"Things have widened out a little bit, so if you tap a bid for 1,000 shares, you get something moving 30 cents instead of a nickel or a dime," he said.

However, he said that those moves were not as indicative of how the marketplace was performing as compared to moves in newer and bigger deals, such as Citigroup Inc.'s 7.125% series J fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: CPJ) or Morgan Stanley Co. Inc.'s 7.125% series E fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: MSPE).

In those issues, Citi's shares closed up 8 cents after starting the day softer, ending at $25.58. Morgan Stanley was trading at $25.25, down 5 cents.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index was meantime off 20 basis points.

The trader said he had been talking with other players in the market and remarked that everyone was operating "under the same mandate: 'Don't do anything crazy, just sit and wait.'"

REITs unloaded

A market source said an investor might be unloading real estate investment trust paper, leading some names in that space to trade actively.

Corporate Office Properties Trust's (NYSE: OFCPL) were the busiest paying security of the day, though only about 690,000 shares changed hands. The issue finished the day down 2 cents at $24.98.

National Retail Properties Inc.'s (NYSE: NNNPD) were also active, with over 621,000 shares being traded. The paper closed at $22.77, up 6 cents.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.