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About $18.8 billion in new supply hit the market, with single A and up issuers dominating the calendar. Although high volatility and a downward bias in the equity market may have deterred some lower-rated companies from coming to market, there is nevertheless a sizable high yield calendar growing with visible supply of close to $2 billion. The highlight of the week was the Ford deal (figures not included in the charts because books hadn't closed as of Thursday evening), which showed that investors still had significant cash to put to work in the market. Although news of the deal initially pushed Ford spreads 15-20 bp wider, the bonds closed Thursday at Tuesday's post-downgrade levels. The market has clearly opened up for cyclical investment grade companies and those, like ILFC, directly affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Wyndham International's bank debt is starting to resurface, treading water in the 78-82 range last week. The increasing rate loan is in the 77-78 range, the revolver last traded in the 80 range, and the "B" paper traded in the 79-80 range. A dealer explained the levels have been supported by the company's recent announcement that occupancy rates have improved. Also, the distribution of funds from asset sales will be used to pay down a variety of debt, as opposed to simply paying down the revolver. "This gives benefit to everybody," he said. Wyndham has also recently secured covenant relief.

The CIBC World Markets and Citibank-led deal for CommScope is reportedly picking up interest after some sweeteners were added, but buyside reticence to invest in primary deals and some credit-specific issues are still making syndication a very tough job, investors said. Responding to investor demands for upside, CIBC and Citibank flexed up pricing 1% from LIBOR plus 3 1/2 % on the $225 million term loan "B", also being offered at a 2 1/2 % discount. Call protection of 103, 102, 101 is also being thrown in and the upfront fees have been bumped up for commitments of $20 million and $10 million. The upfront fee is now 1 1/4 % and 1% from 3/4 % and 1/2 % respectively. Calls to bankers at Citibank and CIBC were not returned.

Sponsors say banks are not lending, investors say sponsors are not willing to chip in more equity and banks stuck in the middle say the impasse between the two parties makes LBO deals a tough sell. Asked if the stalemate was slowing LBO deal flow, one investor joked, "It's hard to slow down a parked car."

Several buyside firms are considering increasing their exposure to property and casualty insurers--the same companies whose bond prices plummeted in the wake of the Sept.11 attacks. Graham Allen, head of the roughly $50 billion taxable fixed-income portfolio at Wells Capital Management, says the firm wants to take advantage of spread-widening and the p&c companies' presumed ability to raise premiums going forward.

In stark contrast to their peers in other investment banking areas, structured finance bankers in London are going to see strong bonuses this year, perhaps even a little stronger than last year's, according to London-based executive recruiters. This good news is largely thanks to a booming asset-backed market, targeted to top €115 billion this year. On the sales and trading side, however, bonuses will be less, but not cut as drastically as in other areas, such as all facets of equities business, according to Robin Keck, executive recruiter for debt capital markets at Michael Page International. Mark Sullivan, executive recruiter for DCM at Jonathan Wren, agreed that debt pros will be the envy of others. "Universally, bonuses will be pretty poor this year, but fixed-income specialists might be the exception."

Moody's Investors Service's employees may move back to their offices on Church Street by the end of the month, says Michael Kanef, managing director of structured finance. Closed after the Sept.11 attacks, Moody's offices have not reopened since the tragedy because the building was declared part of Ground Zero by New York City. Moody's officials are expecting city officials to approve the reopening by the end of October, but are still awaiting confirmation, says Kanef, reached at his New Jersey office.

The move to create an online clearinghouse for loans has been shelved because of a lack of interest among loan market players, according to Operations Management, a Loan Market Week sister publication. The platform was being formulated through a joint venture between The Depository Trust Company and Reuters, but the partnership could not get a solid commitment from banks, said Jeff Reichert, head of business development for Corvalent, the Reuters unit that was developing the platform. "The clearing and settlement side was not a priority for these firms. They were more interested in trading the loans electronically," Reichert said.

Bear Stearns International is planning to grow its London-based interest-rate product group by nearly 50% in the coming months, according to BW sister publication Derivatives Week. This is part of the firm's ambition to become a larger player in the European market, says George Polychronopoulos, senior managing director. Polychronopoulos, who will lead the effort, joined last month from Deutsche Bank, where he was most recently head of marketing to Scandinavia and Greece: previously he had been head of Scandinavian and Greek interest-rate products. At Bear Stearns, his position is parallel to that of Jérôme Camblain, who runs the sales side.

Charter Communications' bank debt traded up last week to 97 3/8 from a previous level of 95 3/4. Dealers reported about $10 million changed hands. Buyers and sellers could not be determined. The credit recently notched down on Adelphia Communications' new deal flooding the market with more cable paper. Dealers remain optimistic on cable names, but say where anything lands remains a mystery in current market conditions. "Just because $2.5 million of Charter traded at 96 doesn't mean the market was down; it just means one person wanted to sell," a dealer said, explaining why market fluctuations occur. "If I were to buy $10 million of Charter, it would push [levels] back up." Charter is a cable company based in St. Louis, Mo.

An estimated $50 million of Crown Cork & Seal has traded over the last two weeks in the 84-85 context. Last Wednesday the company released a third-quarter loss, citing pricing pressure and the impact of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies. The packaging products company reported a net loss of $13 million compared to a profit of $44 million a year ago in the same period. Deutsche Bank is said to be active in the name, but officials there would not confirm. Calls to Timothy Donahue, cfo, and the company's investor relations department were not returned.

Crown Media Holdings was able to close a $285 million acquisition credit despite a tough market because the company's target, Hallmark's video library, is well regarded by lenders. Bill Aliber, cfo, says the company began discussions with Hallmark last November and just recently closed the deal as available credit in the bank debt market tightened. "Hallmark helped us move up the food chain," said Aliber, explaining it was a lengthy negotiations process even with the Hallmark name. "The bank market became difficult, so it took a while," Aliber said--referring to the number of credit defaults over the last year and the resulting overall hesitation of lenders in the market. "What happened was the market got more challenging as the process went on," he said.