Preferreds rebound, end stronger; Morgan Stanley lists on NYSE; Qwest frees to trade

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Sept. 23 – Preferred stocks managed to end with a firm tone on Tuesday after being soft earlier in the day.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index ended up 11 basis points but was down 4 bps at mid-morning.

“Liquidity was better, but it was really restricted to a handful of names,” a market source said.

One such name was Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., whose $1 billion of 6.375% series I fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative perpetual preferred stock gained admittance to the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The deal came Sept. 11, with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC running the books. The ticker symbol is “MSPI.”

The preferreds closed at $25.10, down a dime on the day. The preferreds were trading at $25.12 early in the day, which compared to opening levels of $25.15.

Another actively traded issue was Bank of America Corp.’s 6.625% series W noncumulative perpetual preferreds (NYSE: BACPW), a $1 billion issue that priced Sept. 2.

Those preferreds ended the day at $24.92, up 3 cents.

In more recently priced deals, a market source said Qwest Corp.’s new $500 million issue of 6.875% $25-par senior notes due 2054 freed to trade later in the day.

The source said the notes last traded at $24.54 but noted that the volume weighted average price was $24.736.

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