Preferred shares produce dependable income when a company is neither booming nor going bust, but is steadily managing to stay ahead of inflation.

FORBES: Forget The Dogs, For Rich Income Look To Dow Preferreds

Credit Suisse First Boston, Warburg Dillon Read and Merrill Lynch: all have, of late, curtailed their reliance on trading in favour of fee-based income such as advice on mergers, which are booming (see chart).

ECONOMIST: The trader??s lament