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Twenty trades were done in US dollar and public financials were at the forefront off issuance. Swedish public issuer, Kommuninvest I Sverige, traded a $80 million five-year trade that pays a fixed coupon of 4.600%. Tsubasa Europe is the bookrunner. The trade is part of a three-note multi-currency tranche with the other tranches in Australian dollar and euro. The borrower also closed a $5 million four-year note that pays a coupon semi-annually. And Canadian public sector borrower, Export Development Corp, has done a $230 million note with Mizuho as bookrunner. It goes out four years and three months and pays a coupon of $4.25 million. The issue will be sold to Japanese retail investors. The other public borrower was Freddie Mac with a $20 million six-year note. Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France (3CIF) did a $10 million eight-year note via JPMorgan. The note pays a fixed yearly coupon and the coupon at redemption is linked to the performance of the Nikkei225. There are no calls and the note is not capital guaranteed.

* Unilever NV Guarantor: Unilever plc

Volkswagen has dropped two dealers and increased the limit off its euro10 billion ($8.89 billion) multi-currency CP programme. The new debt limit is euro12.5 billion and Commerzbank and HypoVereinsbank have been dropped as dealers. Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, ING Barings, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley have been added as dealers.

Vivendi Universal, the French media group, used some clever tactics to sell off a Eu1.2bn block in its subsidiary Vivendi Environnement, the French water treatment group. Universal sold the 9.3% block, representing 32m shares, at a price of Eu37.9 per share in Environnement on Tuesday through SG and Deutsche Bank. The shares sold by Vivendi were those that underpinned Universal's Eu1.8bn exchangeable issue that it sold in February through the same two banks. The media group has in effect sold the same shares twice within a year. Universal was forced to sell the same 9.3% because its remaining 63% stake in Environment is locked up until 2003.

Walt Disney signed a $4.5 billion Euro-CP programme on Tuesday, December 4. Goldman Sachs is the arranger, signing its seventh Euro- or global CP arrangership of the year. The issuer is joining a turbulent sector. Standard & Poor's has given the new programme an A-2 rating and Moody's rates it P-2, along with its two US CP programmes that are rated A-2 and P-2. But the volatile nature of the A-2/P-2 sector has not kept others from signing. Eleven other A-2/P-2 issuers have joined the Euro-CP market this year, and all but two of those have paper outstanding. Walt Disney will be able to exploit its global name, however, and will already be known in the debt capital markets through its $3 billion Euro-MTN programme signed in May 1996. That facility has $2.1 billion outstanding off nine trades. The dealers off the Euro-CP programme are the arranger, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Do we hear the sound of falling bodies on the pavement outside the offices of HSBC Investment Bank in the City? Ambulances with screaming sirens are racing to the scene. The telephone lines of Rent-a-Priest are jammed in the search for suitably ordained people to read the last rites. Sharp traders from Petticoat Lane Market are doing a roaring business in body bags. What's going on? Just as we were warming towards HSBC, we are told that technology and software investment banking groups were ambushed at dawn by the cut-throats from human resources and were massacred almost to the last man. The Red Cross medical teams say that 25 professionals bit the dust. The only survivors, Alastair Morton and Julian Gray, just saved their scalps by seeking refuge in the main UK M&A group.

Hopes that the recession in the US is coming to an early close were raised by the National Association of Purchasing Managers (NAPM) index released on Wednesday, which was much stronger than expected. US and euro-zone government bonds fell sharply, and credit and stock markets globally rallied on the news. While the spectre of Enron continues to haunt the markets, bankers report a positive reception to primary issues despite the surrounding volatility.

France Crédit Agricole Indosuez has signed the Eu450m 364 day credit for Groupe Charbonnages de France. The loan was oversubscribed and increased from Eu300m.

Every issuer who made a trade in yen on Friday could be put in the financial category. And 14 of the 21 deals announced were for ¥500 million or less. CDC IXIS Capital Markets did a ¥300 million PRDC and a ¥400 million PRDC. The former is a non-call-three and has a trigger-redemption after three years and is callable annually thereafter. The other is a non-call-one and callable semi-annually thereafter. They both have terms of 20 years and pay initial fixed coupons of 5%. Nederlandse Waterschapsbank did a ¥1 billion 25-year trade via Nomura. It is a PRDC with an initial fixed coupon of 5.2% and is callable semi-annually. Caixa Geral de Depositos Finance closed two ¥200 million 30-year non-call-one notes to be issued on December 12. Both are PRDCs led by Mizuho. The first has a fixed coupon for the first three years of 4.5% and thereafter it pays a FX-linked coupon annually linked to the yen/US dollar rate. The second note pays a fixed coupon for the first year and thereafter it is linked to the yen/Australian dollar rate. It has an FX-linked trigger at three years. BNP Paribas announced four deals, three of which were for ¥100 million ($800,000) and have terms of 30 years. The other was for ¥300 million and goes out to December 2011. World Bank also did four trades, and the biggest was a ¥3 billion note. The others were for ¥2.5 billion, ¥1.4 billion and ¥1 billion. The last of these has a term of 31 years, the others a term of 30 years. Credit Lyonnais Finance announced three small deals, for ¥200 million, ¥55.7 million and ¥97.8 million. The first two have terms of three months each, the third a term of six months. They have fixed coupons of 2.5%, 5% and 5.5% respectively. First Chicago Tokio Marine Financial Products announced its 14th and 15th notes of the year, all of which have been denominated in yen. They were a ¥100 million one-month trade and a ¥100.32 million three-month trade.

Fourteen of the 24 trades issued were either 20- or 30-year notes. Most of these were power reverse dual currency notes (PRDCs). SEK issued six: two $300 million ($2.42 million) PRDCs that are due on December 17, and four $500 million PRDCs that are due on December 20. They are all private placements. CDC IXIS Capital Markets also issued a ¥500 million PRDC. It pays a fixed rate of 4% for the first year whereupon it becomes floating rate. It has a call option after one year and is callable annually thereafter. Other issuers in the yen long term are Daiwa Securities and International Finance Corp. World Bank and European Investment Bank both did ¥1 billion 30-year notes. European Investment Bank closed a ¥1 billion 30-year callable PRDC that pays a fixed rate of 4% in the first year. If it is not called after one year it will pay interest linked to the yen/euro FX rate and will have yearly call options. At the shorter end, Konica Finance USA Corp closed a ¥2 billion three-year note, due on December 13. And Macquarie Bank did two small trades for ¥65.67 million and ¥30 million. They go out 37 days and three months respectively.

Yen saw the usual demand for triple-A public finance borrowers such as KfW International Finance, Kommunalbanken and Kommuninvest I Sverige. Together these issuers raised $60.10 million-worth of debt and made up over one third of the market volume. Kommunalbanken did a ¥600 million ($4.83 million) 20-year note and a ¥1 billion 30-year trade. Salomon Smith Barney managed both trades. The issuer also did a ¥500 million 20-year note via Gen Re. This is the first time Kommunalbanken has used Gen Re as a Euro-MTN bookrunner, although the bank is a large counter party for the issuer. Triple-A rated Rabobank Nederland issued a ¥1 billion 15-year callable note. Daiwa was the bookrunner. The note is non-call-one and callable semi-annually thereafter. It pays a semi-annual coupon of 2% for the first three years and after that the rate becomes constant maturity swap- (CMS-) linked at 20 years minus two years. And Banque PSA Finance closed a deal for ¥1 billion yen as well. Kokusai Europe was the dealer and the trade pays a fixed rate of 0.2% semi-annually. The deal is non-callable and was swapped back to euro.

UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) this week launched a £331m securitisation of the rental income from 59 of its UK retail properties via Morgan Stanley. The company has been considering securitisation since the second quarter of this year. The technique offers a 25 year funding source, which market participants suggest would be difficult for the company to obtain in the unsecured bond market.