Preferred trading muted as holiday nears; new deals improve; U.S. Cellular lists on NYSE

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, Nov. 24 – Liquidity continued to dwindle in the preferred stock market on Tuesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

“There’s not a lot happening,” a trader said.

And while overall action was not huge, there were some gyrations in the market.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index ended up 19 basis points after being up 1 bp to 2 bps at mid-morning. Earlier in the session, the index had been off as much as 8 bps.

Investors meantime remained focused on recently priced deals.

United States Cellular Corp.’s $300 million of 7.25% $25-par senior unsecured notes due Dec. 1, 2064 began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday under the symbol “UZC.”

The issue was quoted at $24.93 bid, $24.96 offered, with the issue finishing the day at the lower end of that spectrum. However, the paper did trade as high as par during the session.

The deal priced Nov. 16 via BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, UBS Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC.

Meanwhile, Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.’s $200 million of 6.35% series C noncumulative preferreds – a deal priced Nov. 17 – were seen closing at $24.98, up 3 cents on the day.

The issue was quoted at $24.92 bid, $25.05 offered earlier in the day.

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