Pre-migration untagged articles

Thank you to some kind friends at Lehman Brothers who were grateful to us for pointing out the storming performance of the firm's share price, which has made them even richer than before.

Once again, auto manufacturing has been the most active sector in the US CDS market — for the seventh month running. The auto parts sector was the second most active sector. The busiest single names were GMAC, Delphi, Albertsons, Ford Motor Credit and GM. Albertsons has not been featured in the most active column before, but it is at the centre of LBO speculation and has seen heavy volumes lately, said US traders.

Citigroup has been suspended from trading bonds on the Italian MTS platform for a month from November 1, in the latest penalty for its Eu12.9bn government bond trade in August 2004.

The impressive resilience of emerging market bonds in the face of bad news finally gave way this week, with prices plunging across the board for the first time since May.

Bankers reported a mixed week in the EuroCP market. However, one US bank said it had a bumper week with a spike in activity yesterday (Thursday).

Dollar swap spreads tumbled from their highs at the end of the week after a moderate Treasury rally. At close of trading in New York yesterday (Thursday), the two year was 40.75bp, the five year was 46.75bp, the 10 year was 46.25bp, and the 30 year 46bp. In the early part of the week swap spreads had hit levels not seen for almost six months as Treasuries sold off. The 10 year note was yielding more than 4.40% as a series of Fed officials indicated that, despite the two hurricanes and the price of oil, their primary aim is to constrain inflation.

The impressive resilience of emerging market bonds in the face of bad news finally gave way this week, with prices plunging across the board for the first time since May.

The Euromarkets may be uncharacteristically quiet for October, but trust the Italians to keep us smiling. First, the governor of the Bank of Italy was given the bird by his own colleagues and was kept away from the IMF meeting in Washington. Copies of governor Fazio's undelivered speech are available in tourist shops near the Colosseum, where they have been converted into cigar lighters. Governor Fazio has only himself to blame, for encouraging his Italian banking pals to buy Banca Antonveneta using pasta shells, while our friends at ABN Amro, who played every rule by the book, were offering hard cash.

France Télécom this week launched the second biggest corporate bond of the year, but was forced to widen its pricing to get a Eu2bn deal away.