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--John Jepsen, v.p. and treasurer of Crompton Corp. on why the bank snared a role on a bank debt and bond refinancing.

Confusion over a high-yield bond that will be called this week is causing some investors to call for reforms in the process through which the investing community is informed of material information.

The number of global high-grade issues rated triple-B minus with a negative outlook has risen to 46, indicating that the pace of new fallen angels may pick up later this year, according to Standard & Poor's.

Advance Capital Management has been taking money out of longer corporates and putting it to work in agencies and high-yield, said Chris Kostiz, portfolio manager of $390 million in taxable fixed income in Southfield, Mich.

National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance's investment-grade paper is widening on the company's announcement that a loan it made to another telecom company is non-performing. National Rural's 5.75% of '09s widened to 88 basis points over comparable Treasuries last week, from 75bps over the previous week.

A 10-point drop in the high-yield bonds of Esselte Group Holdings, an office supplies manufacturer, is highlighting the need for more disclosure in the European bond markets and shows how transparency on the Continent still lags the U.S., according to investors and bankers.

The Bear Stearns High-Yield Index was more than 50 basis points tighter last week as its yield shrank to 7 3/4% and its average spread over the Treasury curve narrowed to 440bps.

William Gossard, portfolio manager at Mesirow Financial, on how concerns about terrorism are affecting the bond market.

J.P. Morgan Securities has hired Brian Zeitlin, managing director and global co-head of collateralized debt obligations at Deutsche Bank in New York, who is widely regarded as a rainmaker in the North American CDO market, according to Derivatives Week, a BW sister publication.

As a banker making a loan to a company, have you noticed how the relationship resembles courtship and marriage?

The Dutch Treasury plans to issue €5 billion of new bonds with maturities ranging from one to five years via a unique direct auction process as early as October, according to Eric Wilders, head of capital and money markets at the Dutch State Treasury Agency.