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John Hancock Advisors is putting cash to work in foreign bonds to take advantage of a weak dollar.

Harris Nesbitt, the U.S. investment banking subsidiary of BMO Financial Group, plans to hire at least two professionals for its high-yield sales, research and trading team in New York.

Steve Luttrell, portfolio manager at Drake Management in New York, on where he can get the best risk-adjusted return.

First Source Corp. may decrease its allocation to Treasuries and increase its exposure to mortgage- and asset-backed securities in the coming months.

Is she really going out with him?

A top bond trader at Morgan Stanley is moving to set up a fixed-income hedge fund that will employ convertible arbitrage strategies.

There were a handful of drive-by offerings in the high-yield market last week, as some issuers sought to take advantage of attractive funding options and raised cash on an ad-hoc basis.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market.

Putnam Investments continues to maintain a down-in-quality bias for its high-yield funds.

Bonds Direct Securities, a trading platform for institutional and retail investors, is looking to add an unspecified number of sales professionals to its investment-grade corporate and mortgage-backed teams, according to Jim Ednie, senior v.p. and New York sales manager.

After a year's exile from the euro market while investors came to terms with its accounting problems, Freddie Mac returned this week with a generously priced 10 year bond that achieved a highly successful sale, even though Freddie is still a long way from its former credit standing.

The outcome of a three-way tussle to acquire a U.K. power plant could hinge on a roughly GBP300 million (USD546 million) interest-rate swap tied to the 800 MW plant's project-level financing.