Morning Commentary: Preferred stocks climb in wake of bank earnings; Wells Fargo, JPMorgan busy

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, July 17 – The preferred stock market was trending upward early Monday, as bank earnings remained in focus.

In fact, the session’s most active issues at mid-morning were mainly banks that reported earnings on Friday.

For instance, Wells Fargo & Co.’s 8% class A series J noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrJ) were busy, albeit slightly weaker, at $25.89.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s 5.5% series O noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrD) were also active, trading up a nickel to $25.40.

Both banks reported earnings on Friday that mostly beat expectations. As for Wells Fargo, there was also news out over the weekend about the bank’s plans to shed some of its smaller businesses in an effort to improve investor confidence following a sales scandal uncovered in September 2016.

In the current week, more banks are slated to release their latest quarterly results. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are scheduled to announce numbers on Tuesday, with Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. following suit on Wednesday.

Aside from the bank-linked issues, Fannie Mae’s 8.25% series S fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds (OTCBB: FNMAS) were trading busily, and better, adding 2 cents to $6.12.

There was no fresh news on the GSE to explain the gain.

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