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The new Fleet HomeLink commercials from FleetBoston Financial having been running steady over the past two weeks as the Red Sox and Yankees squared off in seven games in 11 days. An informal tally appears to have Jeter having more lines than Nomar, which isn't right because Nomar's stats are slightly better so far this year. It's wicked unfair.

Napoleon Rodgers, portfolio manager withAlpha Capital Management, says he is going to rotate 15% of the firm's portfolio, or $15 million, out of Treasuries into mortgage pass-throughs, as he expects mortgages will outperform Treasuries with the prospect of stable or slightly higher interest rates. There is no trigger for this move besides the anticipation that, although the Federal Reserve may not tighten this year, the recovery should cause long rates to move up relative to short rates, hence shaping the curve in a more positive slope, he says. As a result, mortgage products should perform well due to their negative convexity and offer additional yield pick-up, he says.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.

RailAmerica has refinanced its credit line to lock in interest-rate savings on its new $475 million credit facility. The company wanted to replace financing that was entered into when the interest rates were higher, explained Bennett Marks, senior v.p. and cfo, and Michael Howe, v.p. and treasurer. The company was able to reduce pricing on its term loans by 75 basis points and pay down part of its interest-rate hedge after improving its credit profile and performance.

Goldman Sachs' $250 million "B" tranche for Venetian Casinos was allocated late last week, with bankers and buysiders expecting pieces to be on the skinny side. The deal was more than five times oversubscribed, according to bankers, and instead of being upsized, pricing was slashed 1/2% to LIBOR plus 3%. The deal also includes a $125 million pro rata piece, which has a $50 million delayed draw term loan. Bankers said it is not too surprising the credit was so oversubscribed. Despite concern over Vegas-based hotels, Venetian is a solid operation, said bankers and analysts.

A small piece of Wyndham International's "B" term loan traded in the 95 range in retail last Tuesday, according to dealers, as the completion of the company's planned bond deal comes into question. Some traders quoted the paper as low as 92-94 down from the 971/ 2-98 range, where it had been trading before Moody's Investors Service gave the company's planned $750 million of senior subordinated notes a Caa1 rating. The new notes are earmarked to pay down the company's increasing-rate loan and roughly 10-15% of the name's "B" term paper. No trades were reported on the IRL's and the market was quoted wide at 95-98.

The Cooper Companies tripled the size of its KeyBank-led credit facility, adding a term loan tranche to the composition of its bank deal. The new $225 million credit, comprising a $150 million, three-year revolver and a $75 million, five-year term loan, replaces a $75 million revolver set to mature in 2006. The company needed to pay off $62 million under its existing credit line and pay £44 million in notes owed to Biocompatibles International as a result of Cooper's purchase of Biocompatibles Eyecare in February. These capital expenditures prompted a redo of its entire credit line package, said Norris Battin, v.p. of investor relations. The company tripled its size after evaluating its capital needs going forward, he noted. The credit was oversubscribed.

Gregg Mattner has left Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where he was a principal who oversaw $60 billion in passively managed fixed-income assets. He says that when BGI made a decision last year to emphasize active rather than passive management and have him report to Peter Wilson, his fourth boss in 11 months, he became disenchanted with his role at the firm. "My most recent responsibilities were significantly different from what I was initially hired to do," he says. Mattner says he resigned. Calls to Wilson were referred to Tom Taggart, BGI spokesman, who characterizes the decision as a mutual one.

United Defense Industries (UDI) is seeking an amendment from its bank group to cut pricing on its bank deal and add $300 million of debt to its credit to fund the acquisition of United States Marine Repair. "We expect the pricing to decline with the amendment," said Mark Manion, treasurer of UDI. "The credit markets have improved and the banks think they can do it," he added. There is currently $423 million of bank debt, with an additional $300 million expected, he said. The amendment needs 100% approval. He declined to comment on the current and anticipated spread and referred questions on how the lead banks, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers, will shop the amendment to the group. Calls to officials at the banks were not returned.

Market players are speculating that Owens-Illinois might choose to once again restructure its debt with either another carve-out or a bond deal. The company recently carved out roughly $500 million of its revolver for a term loan to make the paper more attractive to institutional buyers, and some dealers believe the company could make a similar move in the future. The market for the name's term loan "B" was quoted in the 99 1/4 99 3/4 range and the market for the revolver was quoted in the 96 3/4 97 3/4 range, according to traders.

At least four high-yield portfolio managers say they would rather run the risk of underperforming benchmark indices than get hammered again in the telecom sector. None of them plan to buy the bonds of WorldCom, and half are also steering clear ofQwest Communications. The admission by the buy-siders is significant because the credits were expected to comprise a whopping 6.8% of the Merrill Lynch High-Yield Master II index, and over 7% of the Lehman Brothers high-yield index. The bonds were added to the widely followed indices last weekend due to recent downgrades. The junk managers say they have been down the telecom road before, and do not have the stomach to add further exposure to the sector, especially because their peers are of the same mind and therefore they will not risk underperforming them.