Pre-migration untagged articles

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt won plaudits for the unhurried execution of its inaugural, Eu1.5bn three year transaction on Monday, and was credited with reopening the covered bond market.

US dollar swap spreads are dropping as the global credit fears subside and a large number of swap-driven new issues hit the Street. At the close in New York yesterday (Thursday), the five year market was 63.5bp, the 10 year market was 62.35bp and the 30 year market was 61.25bp.

To mark the emergence of covered bonds as a crucial global asset class with almost Eu2tr of paper outstanding, EuroWeek has launched its inaugural Covered Bond Awards.

One of our oldest friends in the City, who is a celebrated fund manager, has been buying modest amounts of UBS shares at around Sfr62-Sfr63. He believes that the personnel problems at UBS Investment Bank, which we covered in great detail in these columns, have largely been resolved.

In these columns a fortnight ago, we questioned the wisdom of the activist hedge fund, Knight Vinke, which had decided to target HSBC for alleged underperformance.

The other big talk of the market last week was the Royal Bank of Scotland's fifth annual cocktail party Wednesday night at the Bryant Park Grill.

Anthony Clemente started his new private investment firm, Canaras Capital Management.

-- Pat Loret de Mola, founder, president and ceo of Trade Settlement, on the market and the company's expansion.

The following charts show the top five advancers and decliners in terms of % moves in the loan, bond and credit default swap markets for the previous week.

Demand for asset backed commercial paper continued to recover this week, but structured investment vehicles remained under pressure.