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Turkey’s current account deficit increased more than expected to $4 billion in May but Foreign Direct Investment also soared to a record $6.5 billion.

Credit Suisse has hired Jim Sweeney and Colin Sims, both from SG Corporate & Investment Banking in New York, to expand the firm's fund-linked products business in the U.S. Both started last week--Sweeney as managing director and co-head with Jeff Jaenicke of fund-linked products in the Americas, reporting to Tony Pesco, managing director and global head of fund derivatives at CS in New York, and Sims as v.p. and product specialist focusing on fund of funds. Pesco said the hires, which bring the group to six, are an important step in building a U.S. presence. He expects to hire about four more in coming months.

A business reorganization at U.S. cigarette maker Altria may see debt retired and credit protection holders with worthless contracts--a phenomenon known as orphaning.

SG Corporate & Investment Banking has reeled in Polly Wong, an ex-director in the investor products group at ABN AMRO in Hong Kong. She fills a new role as a director in equity derivative sales, a slot created to boost private banking coverage in Hong Kong. Wong, who left ABN in May (DW, 5/5), said she will focus on private placement equity derivative deals for private banking and corporate clients and now reports to Wilson Lee and Nicolas Reille, co-heads of equity derivatives in Hong Kong.

Further tightening looks inevitable in China; attention is focused on how, how much and how soon

China’s trade surplus was a record $14.5 billion in June, beating the previous high of $13 billion set the previous month. Exports surged 23.3% from a year earlier while imports gained 18.9%. Separate data showed annual M2 money supply growth slowed to 18.4% from 19.1%.

Turkey’s EU prospects were bolstered by the news that Turkish and Greek Cypriots agreed to resume peace talks. Leaders of the two factions, Tassos Papadopoulos and Mehmet Ali Talat, said they will restart a process which was stalled after a unfavourable 2004 referendum vote. The Cyprus issue has been a major stumbling block in Turkey’s efforts to join the EU, narrowly avoiding derailing recent discussions.

The rebound in the world’s third biggest economy continues apace but households are slow to joined the party, the Bundesbank's president says

Analysts say market uncertainty creates opportunity in local debt

Credit Suisse sees market rebound; Dresdner cautious on central Europe; BCP warns over Mexican elections

Emerging markets have been battered by waves of risk aversion in recent months and investors and analysts predict more troubled waters lie ahead

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) controls the largest pile of foreign reserves the world has ever seen. US treasuries have long been the country's investment of choice. Shifting the stash away from dependence on the US dollar, which is long-predicted to weaken, is being done very subtly. Elliot Wilson reports.