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Germany and the US were the dominant nations trading in euro as last week drew to a close. Eleven notes were issued in all for $1.05 billion. BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank teamed up to co-lead-manage a five-year euro600 million ($538.46 million) note for Household Finance Corp. The note pays an annual coupon of 5.000% and is priced to yield 136bp over 4.500%. Deutsche Bank was also busy acting as bookrunner on a euro200 million MTN for GE Capital Australia Funding. The note goes out for just one year and carries a coupon of Euribor flat. Merrill Lynch was another US issuer that was active. It closed a three-year euro15 million note that pays an annual coupon of 1.500%. As well as lead-managing trades, Deutsche Bank came to the market with a euro4 million note that matures on May 16 2003. The note pays a coupon of 4.600% semi-annually. Landesbank Sachsen did a euro50 million MTN that matures on May 9 2003. The note was a straight floater that carries a coupon of 3m Euribor-1/2bp. And Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank closed a four-year euro20 million note that pays a coupon of 3.250% on a semi-annual basis. The non-call note was led by Tokyo-Mitsubishi International and was targeted at retail investors on Japan. Two issuers went out for around six years. ABN Amro did a euro5 million note that matures on December 5 2007. The note carries a coupon of 3.750%. And Barclays Bank closed a euro10 million note that matures on January 12 2007.

Eleven euro trades were closed on Monday with a good mix of maturities. GE Capital Australia Funding was the only issuer looking for large volume. It followed up a euro200 million ($181.18 million) note from last week with a euro600 million FRN via Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. The note has a three-year tenor and carries a coupon of 3m Euribor+5bp. ABN Amro Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten did the longest-dated trade - a ten-year euro50 million note that pays an annual coupon of 4.900%. Banque Generale du Luxembourg self-led a euro7.60 million MTN. The note carries a coupon of 11.510% and matures on May 8 next year. The note is a reverse-convertible on a European insurance company. Banco Comercial Portugues looked to mid-range maturity, with a euro3 million note that matures on September 28 2006. The trade has a single coupon of 7.200%. Goldman Sachs lead-managed a euro37.87 million note for Hamburgische Landesbank. The trade is linked to the EuroStoxx50 index. Other German issuers were also busy. Volkswagen International Finance closed a euro25 million note that pays interest on a monthly basis. It matures on May 13 2002. And Landesbank Sachsen did a two-year euro5 million MTN.

German issuers continued to dominate euro trading this week closing seven of the 13 trades done yesterday. Bayerische Landesbank was looking for large volume, closing two 18-month euro250 million ($223.98 million) plain vanilla trades, both via Salomon Smith Barney (SSB). SSB also led a one-year euro100 million note for Munchener Hypothekenbank. And Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank did two euro50 million notes - one for two years and one for three years. Both notes are callable annually and were lead-managed by Merrill Lynch. Elsewhere, Lehman Brothers Treasury did a six-year euro100 million MTN that pays an annual coupon of 2.000%. And International Endesa reached out with a 30-year euro12 million note that pays a coupon of 5.735% annually.

France Telecom dominated all trading on Thursday by launching a euro5 billion ($4.47 billion) two-tranche issue off its euro30 billion Euro-MTN programme. The issues are split into a euro2.25 billion euro floating-rate two-year tranche and a euro2.75 billion fixed-rate, four-year note. The floating-rate paper is priced at Euribor+118bp while the fixed-rate note is at 186bp over the OBL 134. Barclays Capital, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Deutsche Bank and HSBC are the bookrunners. Elsewhere, euro was trading frantically as 24 trades were closed. Even without the France Telecom tranche, euro traded in larger volume than both dollar and yen. JPMorgan led a euro791.43 million note that goes out to December 31 2020. The note pays interest semi-annually and has a final coupon of 4.924%. UBS Warburg closed a five-year euro56 million note for ENEL. And Svenska Handelsbanken did a euro165 million note that reaches out to December 28 2011. The note carries a coupon of 5.125% and was self-led, by Handelsbanken Trading.

Freddie Mac reaped the benefit of last week's Treasury announcement with a re-opening of its March 15, 2031 Reference Note. The new bonds raised the deal to $6bn. The agency curve has outperformed swaps in the long end of the market since the Treasury announced the suspension of 30 year issuance.

Because Merrill Lynch has attracted so much adverse press attention in recent weeks, some of our many pals within the firm have asked us if we could possibly come to their rescue. Sorry guys, but this would be rather like King Canute ordering the tide to turn back - in fact Canute was trying to prove to his noblemen that he could not turn the tide back. Indeed, Merrill seems to dig itself into an even deeper hole with every move it makes. That awful memo of October 22 to the staff asking for voluntary resignations will win every award for the worst public relations of the year. We are told that there are more Merrill CVs on the street than those coming out of CSFB or JP Morgan. Further management reshuffles at Merrill in equities and investment banking once more look as effective as applying a plaster to a patient who has stepped on a landmine.

* European Bank for Reconstruction & Development Rating: Aaa/AAA

Sibneft is lining up to be the first Russian corporate to tap the international bond markets since the country's 1998 economic crisis, meaning that it could overtake fellow oil firm Rosneft, which roadshowed its proposed Eurobond two weeks ago, but has yet to issue. Lead managed by ABN Amro and Salomon Smith Barney, the deal is expected to be a $250m three to five year bond. The pan-European roadshow will start next week with launch at the end of the following week.

Deutsche Bahn is set to launch the inaugural issue off its new Eu5bn EuroMTN programme, with bankers expecting a Eu750m 12 year fixed rate issue priced at around 28bp over mid-swaps. The deal will be issued through Deutsche Bahn Finance BV and led by Deutsche Bank, with five international banks as co-leads.

Banca delle Marche has added Credit Suisse First Boston as a dealer off its euro1 billion ($898.50 million) Euro-MTN programme. Banca delle Marche has made five trades so far this year, all in euro, for a combined total of euro660 million.