Free content

Federated Investors is building up a duration barbell in its portfolios, according to Bob Ostrowski, cio in Pittsburgh.

More than 100 fixed-income professionals attended The European Fixed Income Summit at the Park Lane Hilton in London last week to discuss the evolving role of debt investments in portfolios.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. plans to start offering protection on first-loss tranches of residential mortgage-backed securitizations from Spain, Italy and The Netherlands.

HSBC Asset Management in London will maintain full weightings in single-A and triple-B rated corporate credits through the end of the year.

Wharton Asset Management, a London-based hedge fund, could issue structured notes on the back of its recently launched fund of hedge funds, according to David Shastri, head of alternative fund investments.

Goldman Sachs is looking to divest the fixed-income portion of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg it acquired four years ago, according to a hedge fund manager with contacts at Goldman and a former trader at Spear, Leeds.

Investors are criticizing what they call sloppy underwriting by Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan of Telecom Italia's dollar-denominated high-grade sale last week.

--Lawrence Gottlieb, chair of the bankruptcy group at Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman, the law firm representing JANA Partners, on Wilbur Ross taking a fee in equity, not cash.

Lehman Brothers is exploring the possibility of coming out with an index for hedge funds that would include fixed-income products, according to Steve Berkley, managing director and global head of fixed-income indices in New York.

The Pacific Capital Diversified Fixed Income Fund may add Treasuries when the 10-year Treasury note reaches 4.75%, according to Janet Katakura, v.p. and senior portfolio manager at the Bank of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Talk about timing... A conference is scheduled for next week in Chicago on Income Deposit Securities, the so-called hottest trend to hit the leveraged finance market.

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