Pre-migration untagged articles

Didn't we tell you in these columns that there were rumbles of cannon fire and the sound of falling bodies coming from the London HQ of Nomura, which is now the domain of Barry Nix, one-time sales legend at Bear Stearns? We thought it might be a dress rehearsal for the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, but a local news vendor told us that civil war had broken out and advised us to keep our heads down.

Bankers are expecting an abundance of sovereign, supra and agency dollar bonds next week if today's (Friday) US non-farm payrolls are well received.

Bankers are expecting an abundance of sovereign, supra and agency dollar bonds next week if today's (Friday) US non-farm payrolls are well received.

Has Wall Street suddenly become a forgiving place, or is it really true that you just can't keep a good man down? You could have blown us over with the last garment worn by a table-top dancer at Scores Club in New York when we were told that Wall Street legends Andy Stone and Ethan Penner — both assumed to be still trying to count their money — might be about to stage a triumphant return.

In league table one, Merrill Lynch moved up one notch into 13th place, pushing Mizuho down to 14th. The US bank led four deals during the week, one trade being a Eu20m 25 year swap rate-linked deal for Banca Intesa. At the top of the table, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital retained gold, silver and bronze positions.

Spanish telecoms operator Telefónica's £17.7bn bid for its UK rival O2 led to a wave of speculation about its plans for bond issuance this week.

Ten year dollar swap spreads hit their widest level for 18 months this week, after the 10 year Treasury yield broke through 4.6%, triggering massive convexity-related paying by mortgage accounts.

Sanpaolo IMI Ireland has signed a Eu3bn combined EuroCP and ECD programme. The A1/P1 rated Italian bank, which arranged the facility itself, is to issue its debut tranche next week. The first trades are expected to be euro or dollar denominated, with tenors of between one to six months.

Hypothekenbank in Essen will test the Pfandbrief market's composure next week by launching a Eu1bn-Eu1.5bn public sector Pfandbrief — the first jumbo since fears of Allgemeine HypothekenBank Rheinboden's collapse sparked panic in the market last week.

Three Middle East banks, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Ahli United Bank and Arab Banking Corp, are readying senior and subordinated Eurobond deals.