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Air New Zealand's Aussie airline Ansett was in need of quick cash. Major shareholder Singapore Airlines was willing to come to the rescue, yet neither Australia or New Zealand were comfortable with the deal. Come September it was too late. In a dramatic turn of events, Ansett was cut loose from its parent as Air NZ grappled with its own financial woes. Fiona Haddock reports.

Billionaire George Soros made his name in Asia when he shorted the Thai baht in 1996, thereby setting off the regional currency crisis, it is said. However, these days Soros has a whole new approach to investment – one Asia's leaders might take a little more kindly to. Fiona Haddock reports.

The global repercussions of the terrible events that occurred in the US on September 11 are still becoming apparent. As financial minds attempt to quantify the likelihood of a global recession in the face of lower consumer confidence in the US and elsewhere, supermarket credits have again taken up the mantle and offered investors a defensive option. Vivek Ahuja reports.

With defensive sectors set to be the drivers of volume in a bearish market, loans for the supermarket and top end retail sectors have recently become more attractive. Traditionally conservative margins have undergone a transformation and deals are no longer priced solely on the basis of the lucrative ancillary business on offer from this cash rich sector. Stephen Fitzmaurice reports.

Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser plans to reduce the portfolio's duration by selling some $10-$15 million of 10- and 30-year govvies in order to add five-year Treasury notes. At the same time, the Foster City, Calif., firm will seek to add corporate exposure by up to $10 million. Portfolio managerEric Leve says he is making the move because he expects 30-year corporates to outperform 30-year Treasuries due to additional government defense spending, industry bailouts and rebuilding, and decreased Treasury buybacks. Leve manages just over $100 million in taxable bonds, though the firm manages $250 million, and he says advisers of private accounts at the firm often mimic his trades.

A lowered risk tolerance and anxiety about market resilience made for sluggish activity last week. Some have taken a "slow and steady" attitude as the economy pulls itself back up from the recent World Trade Center attacks. But, as a banker put it, "We may be in the first act of a four-part play." Meanwhile, some dealers took the reprieve in stride, saying it was a result of the Jewish holiday and many being out. One market player had advice for those working last Thursday: "It's a good day to clean out your sock drawer."