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Nextel Communications' "B/C" paper is trending upward again, last hitting 90 in a total of $20 million in trades. Dealers cite new product offerings as helping to push the credit back up. On Nov. 14 the company announced the official launch of an all-digital wireless network and services combining digital cellular, digital two-way radio, wireless Internet access and text/numeric messaging in one compact phone.

Dedicated electronic platform Volbroker plans to start brokering emerging market foreign exchange derivatives after the merger with TFS-ICAP. Mike Leibowitz, managing director at TFS-ICAP, said the firm's long-term plan is to put all its foreign exchange derivatives on Volbroker. However he continued that Asian, eastern European and Latin America currencies would be a priority because of the large volumes ICAP brokers through the voice market. He declined to set a timeframe as the merger does not come into effect until Dec. 1.

Mark B Johnson continues his roundtable with some of the most prominent investment bankers working in Japan, asking them for their views on the sorry state of Japan's equity markets. The participants are:

DoCoMo's new share issue, the largest in the history of Japan's equity markets, was well timed in February. Shortly afterwards, the Nikkei 225 hit a 15 year low. Despite the dismal markets of 2001, investors have continued to buy into new issuance and even new products, such as real estate investment trusts. Mark B Johnson reviews how successful the new issues have been, and concludes that for retail investors wealth erosion is unlikely to stop soon.

Japanese investors are struggling to pick up yield in their own domestic bond markets, where spreads on government agency, utility, corporate and even the weak bank sector are razor thin. Emerging market sovereigns have taken full advantage of the situation, issuing directly to them through the Samurai format. And now that investors have recovered their confidence following the Xerox crisis a year ago, foreign corporate credits are joining the party too. Mark B Johnson reports.

Unless there is a window of opportunity to achieve pricing at least level with the low spreads available in domestic debt markets, Japan's top credits have proved reluctant to venture overseas. They have even less reason to do so, when they find themselves paying a Japan premium on account of their nation's weakened finances. Mark B Johnson reports on the few deals that have taken place in 2001.

More than ten years after the bubble burst in Japan's property and equity markets, the erosion of wealth and of confidence continues. Government finances are weakening as one fiscal stimulus after another fails to kickstart the economy. The banking system remains largely dysfunctional, seemingly unwilling to tackle bad loans. Yet, ironically, this creates a wealth of opportunity for investment banks as prime minister Koizumi's new administration tries to recapture Japan's economic miracle. Mark B Johnson reports.

The more government debt that Japan issues, the greater the weighting of the yen in the global bond and currency indices becomes. To counter the danger of exposure both to the currency and to the government directly, international investors continue to diversify out of JGBs and into non-Japanese credits including lower rated names. Mark B Johnson reports.

JFM

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau

Mark B Johnson interviewed some of the most prominent investment bankers working in Japan to get their views on the state of the markets, namely:

Originators are embracing securitisation as never before in Japan and investor demand at home seems almost limitless. The prospects for a vibrant RMBS market to finally develop are good. But competition for agency mandates is intense and new structures rapidly become commoditised. Only the smartest and most patient houses can stay ahead of the pack and make a solid return on their investment in the market. Mark B Johnson reports.