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Love is in the air. Morgan Stanley's Deborah Loades has confirmed that Chile will be the venue for her forthcoming honeymoon. But it is not only Deborah enjoying a bit of chilli. UBS's Gavin Eddy, Merrill's legend, Dean the dog Fogg, and Morgan Stanley's Klaus Svendsen were spotted spicing up their lives at a London curry-house last week. Leak hears they were knocking back a few pints and a Vindaloo in the hope of firing-up next week's trading. And UBS has made a new addition to its front-line. Former England football captain, Alan Shearer, has swapped the black and white stripes of his team, Newcastle, for the pinstripes of a city banker. He is set to become a representative of UBS's private banking arm. Leak hopes that UBS's Gavin Eddy and Paul Jones will now finally be able to get to grips with the offside rule. And leak hears that CSFB had a pre-Websters conference party planned for last week. But unfortunately the bank had problems drumming-up interest and the party was shelved. Leak wonders why CSFB didn't invite the boys from mtn-i and CapitalMarketDaily - everyone knows those journalist types are always up for a free drink.

The LBO market is set for a busy end to the year with a number of jumbo credits in or near the market. Loans for Cantrell & Cochrane, Cognis and Pentaplast will all be launched in one form or another. But the restructuring and write downs announced by 3i and the announcement that Photobition has gone into receivership this week highlight the difficult market conditions.

The dollar market might was shaken this week when the US Treasury on Wednesday announced that it would be suspending 30 year bond sales. This dominated developments for the rest of the week and dollar swap traders struggled to determine what this would mean for spreads. In the first instance, the effect on prices and spreads was dramatic. The news, according to one swap trader, "came right out of the blue". Although after a few hours the benefit of hindsight was leading some market participants to believe that it should not have been completely unexpected, at the time, the market was unambiguously and completely shocked. No one had predicted it.

The battle for control of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) ended this week when shareholders accepted a bid from Euronext for £18.25 per share, valuing Liffe at £555m, which left the London Stock Exchange out in the cold and dangerously exposed. An announcement was expected from Liffe on Wednesday about its future, but Liffe surprised the market on Monday afternoon by revealing its recommendation. The deciding factor between Euronext and the LSE was in the end one of cash rather than price. With the battle now over and Euronext the victor the LSE has been left to lick its wounds and reshape its strategy.

* Former Bank of Israel governor and president of Merrill Lynch international, Jacob Frenkel, is to head the Merrill team advising Argentina on macro-economic policy and debt management. Frenkel is chairman of Merrill's sovereign advisory group, president of its financial institutions group and a member of the office of the chairman. However, it is in his other guises that Frenkel is perhaps best known. While at the Central Bank of Israel he is credited with reducing inflation, liberalising the financial markets and removing forex controls.

Kuwait Syndication is under way for the refinancing of the international debt facilities for Equate Petrochemical Co KSC.

Baltic states Roadshow dates have been set for the minimum Eu150m seven or 10 year Eurobond for the Baa2/BBB/BBB rated Republic of Latvia via BNP Paribas. Presentations will begin in Helsinki and Vienna on Monday, November 5, followed by Paris on Tuesday, London on Wednesday and Frankfurt on Thursday.

Germany Commerzbank has been appointed to lead a Eu44m capital increase for CargoLifter, the German airship manufacturer. CargoLifter announced this week that it would carry out a capital increase, in the form of a rights issue, in the early part of November. The increase will fund CargoLifter's future growth. Commerzbank was the bookrunner on the firm's Eu107m IPO that was completed on May 30 2000.

* Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

NTT DoCoMo (NTT) has signed a $10 billion Euro-MTN programme. Merrill Lynch is the arranger. The signing comes a week after NTT's announcement on October 25 that its financial situation was critical and warned that annual net profits would be more than 30% lower than previously forecast. Price cuts and increased competition mean NTT now expects to post annual net profits of ¥89 billion ($726.89 million) and sales are forecast to fall 1.3 % to ¥11.94 billion. It is only the second Japanese issuer to come to the market this year after Ricoh Leasing's $1 billion Euro-MTN signing in March 2001. NTT is the 35th telecom to set up a facility in the MTN market, and the third telecom to come to the market this year. The facility has been assigned an AA rating by Standard & Poor's. The dealer panel consists of the arranger, BNP Paribas, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston, Daiwa SBCM Europe, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, Tokyo-Mitsubishi International and UBS Warburg.

Old Mutual has finally formed a dealer panel for its £

Fourteen trades were closed in the market on Thursday and again it was Hong Kong dollar that was the most sought after. Nine trades were closed in Hong Kong dollar. Royal Bank of Scotland did the longest trade. It closed a HK$100 million three-year FRN that pays a final coupon of 3.68%. Bank of Scotland Treasury also plumped for the currency. It closed a HK$250 million ($32.05 million) note that matures in April 2003. The note pays a final coupon of 2.78% and will reach the market on November 9 2001. And MSDW Asia Securities was busy in the currency. It closed four HK$100 million one-month notes. Bank of Queensland issued a A$30 million ($15.05 million) three-month note. The note pays a single final coupon of 4.22% and will be issued on November 6 2001. Abbey National saw opportunities in sterling and issued a £