Free content

Hedge funds are buying the bonds of bankrupt carriers Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines in a bet there will be a significant bounce back when they emerge from bankruptcy.

--Roger Thompson, treasurer at Axis Capital, on the Bermudian insurer's move to double the size of its credit agreement in a market very friendly to insurance companies.

The $330 million Indiana State Police Pension Trust is seeking a high-yield or hybrid fixed-income manager to handle approximately $18 million.

William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager of $300 million at Cabot Money Management, is positioning his investments to still retain value even if the economy should slip by locking into 5% yield with minimal credit risk.

Rite Aid Corp. reworked its credit agreement, increasing it to $1.75 billion from $1.4 billion because of market conditions, said Kevin Twomey, senior v.p. and chief accounting officer.

The $141 million Waltham (Mass.) Contributory Retirement System has terminated Columbia Management Co. from an approximately $8 million high-yield mandate and is searching for a replacement.

This chart, provided by Citigroup Global Markets, tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market.

The following charts show the top five advancers and decliners in terms of % moves in the loan, bond and credit default swap markets for the previous week. Data provided by Markit Group.

The German equity market defied doubters this week by brusquely ignoring the political deadlock that is gripping the country and filling economists with gloom.

ABN AMRO is readying the launch of a commodity/equity-linked retail note in Hong Kong within weeks, which the firm believes will be a first for the market.

ANZ is considering structuring tranched iTraxx Australia credit products because of the growing liquidity in the credit index.

Barclays Capital will hire several analysts to cover equity derivatives in the coming year on the heels of appointing Larry Kantor and Mark Howard as co-heads of global research last week.