Most surprising chart of the month

January has generally been proceeding to plan (i.e. nothing really exciting going on in my neck of the financial woods!). But the real surprise to me to date is the following chart:

The strength of the Canadian currency has been quite impressive in light of what is going on (coupled with a general lack of rise in the fossil fuel commodity market rate). I am generally agnostic about the strength of the Canadian currency (i.e. I rarely have strong feelings about its primary direction), but lately I have been getting pessimistic about it strictly due to various macroeconomic factors (including the fiscal situation, Canadian/US monetary policy, geopolitical, commodity situation, etc.).

Macroeconomics for me is a complete crapshoot so I don’t place too much of a stake on my own predictions in terms of currency. I generally keep a balance between 30-70% USD exposure (the exact amount depends on appreciation/depreciation of CAD/USD components in the portfolio as well).

Market is predicting Genworth Financial’s merger with China Oceanwide will fail

The market is projecting that Genworth’s (NYSE: GNW) US$5.43/share cash merger with China Oceanwide will fail:

The issue revolves around the insurance unit that contains their long-term care insurance liabilities – the theory would be that the Genworth is unlikely to obtain state approvals without taking the full burden of the LTC division.

The salient part of a piece of nearly unreadable verbiage from the finalized merger proxy form is the following:

In addition, it is a condition to the obligations of Asia Pacific and Merger Sub to consummate the merger that certain affiliates of Genworth shall have received regulatory approval (or non-disapproval, in certain instances) from the Delaware Department of Insurance and the Virginia Bureau of Insurance to effect the U.S. Life Restructuring, including the unstacking and the following intercompany reinsurance and recapture transactions between GLAIC and GLIC: (i) a reinsurance transaction pursuant to which GLIC will reinsure certain long-term care insurance business from GLAIC (which we refer to as the “Long Term Care Reinsurance Transaction”); (ii) separate reinsurance transactions pursuant to which GLAIC will reinsure from GLIC (A) certain universal life insurance business and term life insurance business, (B) certain company-owned life insurance business and (C) certain single-premium deferred annuity business, single-premium immediate annuity business, structured settlement annuity business and fixed annuity business (which we refer to as the “Life Restructuring Reinsurance Transactions”); and (iii) a transaction pursuant to which GLIC will recapture from GLAIC certain single-premium deferred annuity business that is currently reinsured by GLAIC from GLIC (which we refer to as the “Recapture Transaction”). GLIC and GLAIC have received approvals for the Long Term Care Reinsurance Transaction from the Delaware Department of Insurance and the Virginia Bureau of Insurance and completed the transaction effective November 1, 2016. Genworth made regulatory filings with respect to the unstacking with the Delaware Department of Insurance on December 21, 2016 and the Virginia Bureau of Insurance on January 3, 2017. Genworth made regulatory filings with respect to the Life Restructuring Reinsurance Transactions and the Recapture Transaction with the Delaware Department of Insurance and the Virginia Bureau of Insurance on December 16, 2016. In addition, the merger agreement provides that Genworth, in consultation with China Oceanwide and applicable insurance regulators, may explore the feasibility of the transfer of GLAIC’s 34.5% ownership interest in GLICNY to GLIC and, if approval from such regulators is received, to pursue such transfer.

If, for whatever reason, you believe these applications will succeed, then there is a very easy method to turn $3.30/share into $5.43/share in less than six months. Won’t tell you what I think, but I’ve been digging.

What’s happening in Canadian energy?

I’m looking at the charts of several high-quality energy companies in Canada and their trajectory is down.

Looking at the raw commodity prices first:

Spot Natural Gas is down about 15% from December highs (recall that natural gas pricing is seasonal, for comparison the July futures are down less than 10% from the December highs):

West Texas Intermediate spot prices have not done anything over the past month and a half:

So why are the following down?

Peyto and Birchcliff (both very well managed natural gas producers) – Peyto appears to be down disproportionately in relation to natural gas prices:

However, despite that crude has gone nowhere, why are the oil producers starting to drop?

Crescent Point Energy:

Pengrowth (they have liquidity issues with an upcoming debt covenant that they may or may not blow in mid-2017) and Cenovus (another SAGD firm):

There are numerous other examples, but the only one unhurt to date appears to be Encana.

Makes me wonder what is going on. Something geopolitical coming with pipeline access to the USA?

CMHC increasing mortgage insurance premiums

CMHC announced this morning they will be increasing mortgage insurance premiums on March 17, 2017.

The changes are significant for those interested in mortgages with a 10-20% down-payment:

Loan-to-Value Ratio Standard Premium (Current) Standard Premium (Effective March 17, 2017)
Up to and including 65% 0.60% 0.60%
Up to and including 75% 0.75% 1.70%
Up to and including 80% 1.25% 2.40%
Up to and including 85% 1.80% 2.80%
Up to and including 90% 2.40% 3.10%
Up to and including 95% 3.60% 4.00%
90.01% to 95% – Non-Traditional Down Payment 3.85% 4.50%

The changes were a result of the OFSI changing the capital holding requirements of mortgage insurance institutions in Canada (affecting CMHC, Genworth MI and Canada Guaranty) and I have telegraphed this well in advance in my previous analyses of Genworth MI.

It is quite probable that Genworth MI will follow suit and this will result in a substantial increase in premiums written for the company in the 2nd to 4th quarter of 2017. The market has not picked up on this at all.