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A likely deregulation of the Taiwanese warrants market may prompt international houses to start issuing warrants again, but only on small and medium sized companies.

* Myron Scholes, noble prize winner, founder of the ill-fated Long-Term Capital Management and current professor of Stanford University, suggested that the only way to dampen the influence of Warren Buffett and his followers on the derivatives market is to "retire them."

OneWorld Investments, a U.S.-based hedge fund manager with USD460 million in assets, has recently launched an emerging markets fund that purchases and sells credit protection on emerging market, high-yield and investment grade credits.

The lack of a network to market sophisticated structured products to retail investors in the U.S. is one factor that sets the developing market apart from the well-established market in Europe.

ABN AMRO was last week on the brink of hiring a pair of high-yield professionals in London and recently added a third high-yield banker.

David L. Babson & Co. plans to raise the credit quality of its corporate bond allocation in the coming months.

Aidan de Brunner, manager in corporate finance with a focus on debt restructuring at Close Brothers Corporate Finance in London, recently resigned.

Delta Airlines and Goodyear Tire & Rubber both canceled plans to present at the conference, which in hindsight gave investors a heads-up that the companies were planning to come out with significant news.

Just two months ago we were worried that the abysmal level of foreign demand for U.S. corporate debt that was seen in the data for January would become a trend that could undermine this important source of funding for U.S. corporations.

A recurring theme from some investor attendees was the lack of distressed companies, which buyers said was indicative of the hurdles they are facing in sourcing distressed collateral.

A trio of European high-yield deals were pulled last week and a proposed E1.6 billion offering by German chemicals group Celanese looks increasingly likely to be placed entirely in the U.S. as the outlook for European junk deteriorates.