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Plummeting equity markets and a dramatic sell-off in the telecoms sector were the main features of the week as KPN was downgraded by Moody's to Baa3 from Baa2, and France Télécom's A3/A-/A- ratings were placed on negative watch by all three agencies on the back of fears that the company's debt load will prove unsustainable. Marconi was downgraded to junk status, its BBB- rating being cut to BB by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

Belgium Syndication is progressing strongly on the Eu500m revolver for the European subsidiaries of AON Corp, the US-based insurance firm.

Triple-B issuers saw the most action in yen on Friday. Daiwa SMBC Europe announced eight out of the 10 trades done by triple-Bs. Its notes ranged from ¥500 million ($4.17 million) to ¥2.5 billion in size, and all had 15-year maturities. Fuji Finance (Cayman) announced a ¥1 billion 10-year trade. And Mitsui Fudosan International Capital did a ¥4 billion three-month trade. It pays a final coupon of 0.069%. Double-As accounted for 10 trades too. Aegon made its fourth trade of the year, and first in yen, with a ¥8 billion two-year trade. It pays a final coupon of 0.09%. And Deutsche Bank, also rated Aa3 by Moody's, did a ¥1 billion 10-year note. It pays a final coupon of 1.66%. Financials were quite popular, with Barclays Bank announcing a ¥500 million 10-year note and a ¥100 million 30-year trade. Caisse Nationale Des Caisse d'Epargne et de Prevoyance did a ¥500 million 12-year trade, and Westland/Utrecht Hypotheekbank did a ¥500 million and a ¥1 billion trade with respective maturities of 15 and 20 years. The single-As brought up the rear with four small deals. Credit Lyonnais Finance did three of them: a ¥100 million six-month note, a ¥46.44 million three-month note and a ¥200.24 million three-month note. JETS International Two did a ¥1 bilion note that pays 1.5%. It goes out to June 2011.

After a spate of triple-B issuance in yen on Friday, Monday was back to normal with not one trade coming out of that credit bracket. Instead the single-A borrowers produced the most business, raising over $127 million between them. Deutsche Telekom International Finance announced its third yen trade of the year. It was a ¥3 billion (25.21 million) deal that goes out to March 2003. And Australian issuer Suncorp-Metway did a ¥10 billion one-year trade that pays a final coupon of 0.18%. Tokyo-Mitsubishi International did two ¥1 billion trades that have terms of 10 and 12 years, and Credit Lyonnais Finance went shorter with two ¥100 million deals that mature in October 2001 and September 2002. Three financial repackaged issuers were getting back in on the action too. Earls Seven announced a ¥2 billion seven-year note, Helix Investments II did a ¥2 billion five-year note and Mascot Investments did a ¥1.2 billion four-year note that pays a final coupon of 0.72%. Exportfinans announced a ¥500 million trade that goes out to September 2011. It pays a final coupon of 2%. And Svensk Exportkredit also did a ¥500 million note, but it has a term of 20 years. NIB Capital Bank did its 72nd yen note of 2001: a ¥1 billion 15-year trade.

After a couple of days of hard trading the yen market has come back down to normal levels. Thirty-two deals were announced yesterday, taking the total number of yen trades done this year past the 7,300 mark. As usual the financial sector dominated, but a few corporates and a few corporate finance firms were getting involved too. Orix USA Corp, the leasing company, announced a ¥1 billion ($8.4 million) seven-year note. It pays a final coupon of 0.8%. GMAC Australia did a ¥1 billion trade that goes out to September 2004, and GMAC International Finance announced a ¥20 billion one-year note. MMC International Finance did two trades. One was a ¥6 billion trade, the other a ¥1 billion trade. Both have terms of three months. The only supranational on show was European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It did two trades, one for ¥3 billion tat goes out to September 2016, the other a ¥1.2 million note with a 21-year tenor. There was only one financial repackaged vehicle issuing too. Mascot Investments did three trades between ¥625 million and ¥1 billion, and all have terms of eight years. There were a few public finance issuers doing business. Merrill Lynch led a deal for Kommunekredit. It was a ¥500 million 15-year note. And Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingsladen announced a ¥1 billion trade that matures in September 2013. It pays a final coupon of 5.9%. Svensk Exportkredit did four notes. The biggest, a ¥10 billion note, was also the shortest. It matures in February next year. The others were for ¥1 billion, ¥300 million and ¥500 million and go out to September 2016, March 2031 and September 2031 respectively.

Although the number of yen trades has fallen towards the end of the week, the sizes are quite good. DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank did a ¥50 billion ($420.15 million) note that goes out to June 2003. It pays a final coupon of 0.15%. Jackson National Life Funding did a ¥20 billion five-year trade that pays a final coupon of 3.5%. It was the issuer's third yen note of the year. And Monumental Global Funding announced a ¥10- billion trade that matures in May 2006. Its final coupon is 3.5%. Mascot Investments, the Daiwa SMBC-arranged SPV, announced four trades, two for ¥600 million, one for ¥1 billion and one for ¥500 million. They have maturities of eight, 10, three and four years respectively. Other financial repackaged borrowers issuing were B Spires, with a ¥4 billion six-month trade, Helix Investments with a ¥2 billion three-year note and a ¥1 billion eight-year note, and Voyager (Cayman) with a ¥600 million 10-year note.

Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) has added LVMH (Japan) as an issuer to its Euro-MTN programme. The programme's limit has been upped to euro5 billion ($4.46 billion) from euro2 billion. Credit Agricole Indosuez and HSBC CCF have been added to the dealer panel. Nomura International has been dropped as a dealer. The programme has $2.09 billion outstanding off 18 trades.

Moody's and Standard & Poor's (S&P) came under the spotlight on Monday for their differing stances on Allied Domecq, after the UK wine and spirits company successfully won a majority stake in New Zealand winemaker Montana Group. Moody's affirmed Allied's A3 rating and took it off review for possible downgrade, while S&P cut the company from A- to BBB+ and assigned a negative outlook. Allied now carries a split rating. However, analysts were not surprised by the situation.

* After reorganising its research along global sector lines, ABN Amro has created the post of deputy global head of research to work under global research head Tina Beattie. Stewart Callaghan will take up the position as deputy in November after handing over the reins of his current position, head of Asian research, to Michael Baptista.

Estonia Fitch has upgraded the Republic of Estonia to A- from BBB+. The move follows a similar upgrade from Moody's a week earlier. Standard & Poor's is also expected to upgrade the sovereign to a single-A in time for its Eu100m five year debut Eurobond via Credit Suisse First Boston, expected by October.

* Deutsche Bahn Finance BV Guarantor: Deutsche Bahn AG

Seventeen trades were closed in sterling, Hong Kong dollar, Australian dollar, Swiss franc and Danish krone yesterday. Australian dollar has been absent for more than a week, but was back with a three-month A$10 million ($5.22 million) note from HSBC Investment Bank and a A$25 million five year trade from Helaba that pays a final coupon of 5.5%. Commerzbank International and Svensk Exportkredit (SEK) were in Swiss franc and Danish krone respectively. The Sfr36 million ($21.11 million) matures in 2004 and is due on September 17, while SEK's Dkr400 million ($47.79 million) syndicated trade was lead managed by Fortis Bank and KBC International. It goes out to 2009 and pays a final coupon of 5.375%. Bank of Scotland Treasury Services, UBS and 3i Group issued sterling notes with maturities between one and three years. And Hong Kong dollar was busy - 10 trades were closed and eight mature in less than three months.