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Australia's Macquarie Bank is looking to re-tap its backyard with a second retail synthetic collateralized debt obligation targeted for early next year. "We're still in the market-testing stage, but this should launch by February or March," said Craig Swanger, head of structured products and alternative investments at Macquarie in Sydney. The bank launched a NZD129 million (USD84 million) retail CDO last year in New Zealand and a AUD103 million (USD72 million) structure in May as part of its Generator series. "These products have been around now and the sky hasn't fallen so people are accepting them more and more," said Swanger. Macquarie will put out a tender in the coming months for international houses to provide potential global CDO structures, which the Aussie bank would source for the retail deal, looking at such factors as pricing and suitability.

Nestlé is considering using derivatives to hedge its global energy exposure.

The foreign exchange options market focused last week on non-farm payroll data due to be released after DW went to press on Friday, which caused overnight implied volatility on the euro/dollar currency pair to rise to 20% on Thursday from its usual 10%-13% level.

Structurers at UBS in London are looking to launch a fund of hedge funds product with an innovative inflation-linked payoff in the next three months.

The Inland Revenue, the U.K. tax authority, published legislation last week clarifying a favorable tax treatment of property derivatives.

The price of credit-default protection on U.K. supermarket chain J Sainsbury jumped 12 basis points Thursday to 81bps following press speculation that U.S. retailer Target Corp. was preparing an offer.

--Craig Swanger, head of structured products and alternative investments at Macquarie Bank in Sydney, explaining why it plans to launch another collateralized debt obligation for retail investors.

Wachovia Bank has hired a trio of fixed income professionals as part of its push into the region.

The European equity market has started September with a bigger bang than even the most optimistic of equity bankers could have hoped for.

William Blair Mutual Funds is positioning its $270 million income fund to benefit from an improving economy while at the same time being prepared for an increase in short-term interest rates.

Downward pressure appears to be building on high-yield default rates for the first quarter of next year, according to strategists who expect the cyclical low to occur in the coming months before defaults start creeping up again.

Total compensation for U.S. fixed-income investors rose by more than 10% last year, with distressed investors leading the pack, as low interest rates and improving corporate fundamentals fueled significant spread tightening.