Preferred stocks subdued ahead of Fed announcement; Wells Fargo lists; oil shares rise

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Sept. 16 – The preferred stock market continued to be on the muted side early Wednesday as “people are still focused on tomorrow’s Fed non-announcement, probably,” a trader said.

The trader was referring to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting that began Wednesday and would conclude Thursday – with a possible interest rate hike.

“The Fed is the big thing,” a market source remarked.

But even as liquidity fell short of stellar, the market did end with a firm tone.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index ended up 6 basis points after being down 2 bps at mid-morning.

Wells Fargo & Co.’s $900 million of 6% series V class A noncumulative preferreds began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as was expected.

The ticker symbol is “WFCPV.” The deal came Sept. 8.

The preferreds finished at $24.95, which was unchanged from opening levels. However, a trader had quoted the issue at $24.96 bid, $24.97 offered earlier in the session.

Oil and gas-linked preferreds were on the rise Wednesday as new data showed a larger-than-expected drawdown of U.S. crude inventories.

The data also resulted in big gains for crude prices, with domestic crude jumping 5.52% on the day.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp.’s 9.75% series D cumulative preferreds (NYSE: GDPPD) saw a huge percentage gain, rising 12 cents, or 7.27%, to $1.77.

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