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Auto supplier Intermet Corp.'s 9 3/4% notes of '09 dropped a whopping 35 points last week, from 75 to 40, following disappointing earnings due to higher steel costs and the company's announcement that it will violate bank covenants at the end of the month.

Delta Air Lines' bondholders have until the middle of next month to take advantage of the near-bankrupt company's exchange offer, through which unsecured noteholders can swap their positions--at a significant discount--for new, secured bonds.

Calpine Corp.'s 8 1/2%s of '08 traded up to four points higher last week following the power company's announcement it intends to come with a new offering.

High-yield investors are taking issue with lead managers' downward revisions to price talk on new European deals, in a traditional gripe that intensified last week amid the pricing of three deals.

Party time...Sheryl Crow, Dana Carvey, Sting and car racing at the Infineon raceway were just some of the attractions for attendees of Banc of America Securities 34th Annual Investment conference in San Francisco.

Rich Lightburn, managing director and co-head of pass-through trading at Goldman Sachs in New York, resigned last week and plans to join HSBC.

Lower-than-expected numbers in this week's Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) could drive 10-year Treasury yields back down below the psychologically important 4% barrier, according to Josh Stiles, bond strategist at IDEAglobal.

Merrill Lynch Investment Management sees a lot of opportunity in the crossover part of the corporate bond universe, said John Burger, portfolio manager of the $8.2 billion primarily investment-grade fund in Plainsboro, N.J.

--Bill Swenson, managing director and head of loan distribution, sales and trading at CIT Business Credit, on why the firm is building a loan syndication and trading platform.

Weiss Money Management will put all new cash toward bolstering its holdings of 2016 Treasuries at 7 1/4% in the next few weeks, said John Breazeale, sub-advisor on the $115 million Weiss Managed Treasury Accounts fund.

Henderson Global Investors in London could add £40 million ($71 million) in high-yield bonds and long-dated gilts in the coming quarter, said John Pattullo, director of retail credit.