I did another quick scan of the Canadian preferred share market.
Yields are very low. Many issues are trading above the $25 par level and ripe for calling (culling?).
The Canadian public market for individual fixed income issuers out there is getting quite thin. The publicly traded debenture market is also exhibiting moribund signs – 60 individual tickers and this is going to go down another six tickers quite soon with the extinguishing of ECN, and the former Slate Office REIT.
I am not inspired by what I am seeing out there.
The big suprise, for me, is the lack of new issuance at these low rates. This is exactly the time when new series ought to be created.
The Canadian debenture market is significantly bifurcated and the exchange traded debentures are only a minute fraction of the overall debenture market that is unfortunately mostly issued through private placement. The Government of Canada does not have the balls to level the playing field. If all debentures were required to be exchange traded, then the debenture universe would be much more egalitarian. Just the harsh reality of capitalism.
And with user interface gems like SEDI and the IIROC Bond Trade Data (https://bondtradedata.ciro.ca/#/search) it is pretty indicative of what the regulators think.