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Pimco's management sit down at their Newport Beach, California headquarters in a fortnight's time for their annual review of the global economy. One of the big themes under discussion will be China and its global re-integration, Lee Thomas, Pimco's managing director, told EuroWeek. "There is a changing of the guard in Asia," said Thomas. "Japan is in decline, not just economically but also demographically. With China set to be the next great power in the region, we have to look at the implications for global inflation or deflation, for changes in relative prices of goods, and so on."

Corporate dollar spreads widened and the Dow dropped below 10,000 for the first time in two months yesterday (Thursday) after the markets were hit by a barrage of grim corporate news, escalating fears of a weaker than expected economic recovery and an explosion in New York. Trading ground to a halt for two hours on Wall Street on Thursday afternoon when an accidental explosion shook buildings on West 19th street and rattled nerves in a city still recovering from the September 11 attacks.

UK telecoms equipment manufacturer Marconi this week said it had cut its net debt to £2.9bn. That total is well within the company's target of between £2.7bn and £3.2bn. Marconi has raised £1.5bn since September 2001 through disposals.

Merrill Lynch is merging its European, Middle East and African secondary debt trading into a new platform called credit trading. It is to be headed by Dale Lattanzio, who was previously head of the structured credit group, which trades non-vanilla credit products.

The family owner of Italian luxury goods firm Tod's sold a Eu148m block of shares through an accelerated placement on Tuesday. Merrill Lynch lead managed the offering, which comprised 2.8m shares priced at Eu53, a discount of 8.3% to the close the previous day.

Merrill Lynch has named a new management team for its foreign exchange business, which includes four managing directors newly hired from other firms. Senior management in Merrill's debt markets group have identified four major global product areas that they want to focus on: rates, which includes swaps, mortgages and options; credit; principal investment; and foreign exchange.

Rating: Aaa Amount: Eu200m Öffentlicher Pfandbrief series 1043

Syndication of Morgan Stanley's $1.75bn 364 day multi-currency revolver is heading for an oversubscription. Some $1.95bn has been raised from the market. Joint bookrunners Barclays and JP Morgan are arranging the deal, which refinances a $1.95bn 364 day revolving repo guarantee facility signed in 2001 via the same two banks.

Morgan Stanley launched this week an innovative Eu256m convertible into preferred stock for Parmalat, the Italian dairy company. The deal, which has a 30 year maturity, is treated as equity by the rating agencies - and could open the floodgates for corporates looking to issue similar transactions.

* Chris Darley, who left Merrill Lynch in early March, is understood to be joining Bank of America in New York. Darley covered frequent borrowers in Europe for Merrill. * Nomura has hired three more bankers in an effort to increase the size of its Australasian debt origination teams. The bank has appointed Fiona Hong from JP Morgan to a new role as head of structured finance. Hong will be responsible for asset backed and derivative transactions.

Rating: Aaa Amount: Eu100m Öffentlicher Pfandbrief series 1042

Austria Voestalpine, the Austrian steel producer, completed its Eu214m rights issue and global offering yesterday (Thursday). The company sold 3.18m shares through the rights issue and 3.4m shares through the global offer. Both tranches were priced at Eu32.5, a discount of 2.7% to the close the day before, but a premium to the Eu31.8 share price when the deal was announced.