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Nextel Communications bank debt has slid about four points to the 92 1/2 range. Triad Hospitals' term loan "B" is trading at 101, with dealers noting the healthcare industry is in demand. Market appetite for energy credits has pushed up trading levels for Dresser Inc.'s term loan "A" too 100 3/8. FCC approval today of Deutsche Telekom's buyout of VoiceStream Wireless has dealers predicting levels will reach par. VoiceStream last traded at 99 1/4 and is now expected to benefit off of Deutsche Telekom's investment grade status.

Atmos Energy is considering purchasing heating degree day put options in order to hedge against the possibility of warm weather next winter. Laurie Sherwood, v.p., treasurer in Dallas, said the natural gas distribution company's success with hdd options last winter is spurring its shopping for similar coverage for next winter. She declined to elaborate on the precise positions Atmos is eyeing for next winter.

Bank of America in Seoul has hired a five-strong team of fixed income cash and derivatives professionals fromJ.P. Morgan Chase. "We're building our capabilities in a number of markets in Asia," said Gordon Sangster, managing director, head of global markets group Asia at BofA in Hong Kong. "There are a lot of good opportunities in Korea. We were looking to hire a good team and this one was available. They should fit well," he continued.

CDC IXIS Capital Markets is setting up an alternative risk transfer desk to trade weather, catastrophe, life and automobile insurance risk. Michel Queruel, head of alternative risk structuring in Paris, said the bank is ready to trade weather risk via insurance and derivatives products, but it will take a couple of months to start trading the other types of risk.

Volumes have shot up in the Czech interest-rate derivatives market over the last month as macroeconomic changes have created disagreement over the direction of interest rates there, according to traders in London, Frankfurt and Prague. Simon Stuart-Smith, eastern European currencies derivatives trader at Bankgesellschaft Berlin in London, said he now trades six to seven Czech swaps a day compared to one or two earlier in the year.

Sempra Energy Trading plans to start offering weather derivatives to its customer base in the next several weeks and will also start trading the instruments on a proprietary basis. Sempra is looking to enter the market now because liquidity has improved, and because customers have grown increasingly interested in the products, according to Jackie Mitchell, managing director, overseeing West Coast natural gas operations in Stamford, Conn.

Comments on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's proposed New Basel Capital Accord for banks are due on May 31. The proposed accord would include much more detailed treatment than current international risk-based capital standards for banks that offer or purchase credit derivatives, or that perform various roles in synthetic securitizations effected through credit derivatives. The Basel Committee is continuing to discuss many issues in these areas, particularly regarding synthetic securitizations.

The euro/U.S. dollar options market slumbered after the Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates by 50 basis points Wednesday. One-month implied vol rose to 13.5% Wednesday from 11.9% Monday, but trading was thin as players remained unclear on the future direction of the euro, said options traders. Kamal Sharma, currency strategist at Commerzbank in London, said immediately after the Fed announcement the euro fell to under USD0.87 against the dollar, but rose again to hit USD0.8850 within an hour and half. Sharma said the euro/dollar gyrated after the Fed cut because the market was shocked by the timing and confused about the reason.

Enron recently sold a summer season basket option based on the temperature in Marseilles, Berlin and London. The trade was noteworthy because it is believed to be one of the first basket options transacted in the European weather derivatives market, according to Philippe Chauvancy, v.p. business development at United Weather in Jersey City, N.J. United Weather brokered the several million dollar (notional) transaction on behalf of a French financial institution, Chauvancy continued. He declined to name the counterparty.

Masatoshi Inoue, managing director and head of equity derivatives at Deutsche Securities Ltd,Tokyo in Japan, has resigned to pursue his own interests, according to a spokesman. The spokesman at Deutsche Securities, part of the Deutsche Bank Group, declined comment on a potential successor.

Billions of dollars of derivatives flows from U.S. banks could be subject to transaction size limits and collateral requirements when the Federal Reserve implements a law next month. The Federal Reserve by May 12 must introduce some sort of regulation regarding restrictions on derivatives transactions between banks and non-bank affiliates under the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley act. The 1999 act was intended to modernize financial services statutes in the U.S. This regulation would seek to prevent the bank from being subjected to loss due to derivatives transactions with affiliates.