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Despite concern the looming reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could chip away at OTC legal protections gained by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, lawyers expect the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to limit the scope of its proposal for regulatory jurisdiction to retail forex markets.

European pension funds are being forced into hedging long-term interest rate exposure as long-dated forwards hit near-historical lows.

--Lee Kay Seong, an official at the Financial Supervisory Service in Seoul, commenting on dealers and Korean government agencies unwinding structured interest rate trades in the wake of the regulator officially warning firms from pitching these deals.

A new draft of the ISDA fund-linked derivatives definitions book was issued last week and the aim is to finalize the project by year-end.

Dealers are fearful of a slew of downgrades for CDOs that reference Delphi Corp. and there's concern this could lead buy-and-hold investors to unwind or restructure investments.

Landmark Capital Partners' Small/Mid Cap Long/Short U.S. Equity Fund is boosting returns with a synthetic short strategy.

Prudential Asset Management has hired Lye Thiam Wooi, v.p. and head of global markets at CDO manager Straits Lion Asset Management in Singapore, as an investment director in the Lion City to assist in developing the fixed income derivatives business.

Royal Bank of Scotland has boosted its fixed income derivatives presence in the region with a number of hires in Hong Kong, coinciding with a restructuring of the desk.

Refco's term loan plunged more than 30 points before moving back up and about $100 million changed hands as uncertainty swirled around the company.

High-yield bond deals increasingly are being cut in favor of bigger loan pieces and investors do not see the market picture getting rosier anytime soon.

Denali Capital has reduced its loan investments in auto suppliers because of the poor market conditions.

--Chris Kostiz, portfolio manager at Advance Capital Management, on bond allocations dropping from bank deals.