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ALTHOUGH half of the Euromarket seems to be away on vacation, we received more than a dozen calls regarding our friend and folklore hero, Stephen West, the man who has been a major contributor to the success of Warburg Dillon Read. Was he really about to leave and was it true that Edson Mitchell at Deutsche Bank was offering gifts worth $3m per annum? The answer, regrettably, is that we don't know exactly -- and as West is on holiday events may not unfold until his return. He has always played his cards close to the chest and makes the taciturn David Solo seem like a Ruby Wax-style 'Motormouth'.

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THE LATIN new issue market ground to a complete halt this week as spreads across the emerging markets moved out to levels not seen since the Mexican peso crisis in December 1994. Many investors and trading desks have pulled out of the market altogether. With the fears about Russia's financial predicament pulling the rest of the market down, the closely followed JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index Plus (EMBI+) hit a highest yield of 911bp on Wednesday from 575bp in mid-July -- the worst level since the 1994/95 Mexican crisis peak of 1924bp.

RUSSIA's woes and the disarray of stockmarkets globally made for a turbulent week in the bond markets. Bond and swap spreads widened dramatically. However, the unsettled background, and the seasonal slowdown, did not prevent a relatively active week. Lehman Brothers single-handedly accounted for $2.5bn of new one year debt -- described by some critics as league table plays -- as well as acting as joint bookrunner, with HSBC, on GMAC's $1bn global FRN. And if Lehman had league table aspirations in mind when launching the deals, the ploy worked -- it jumped two places in the international bookrunners table to eighth position.

Iceland Den Danske Bank and Landesbank Kiel have launched general syndication of the $75m multicurrency revolving credit for Islandsbanki.

* KfW International Finance Guarantor: Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau

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* Scottish Power plc Rating: Aa2/A+

* Abbey National Treasury Services plc Guarantor: Abbey National plc

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Berliner Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and MeesPierson have won the mandate to arrange a $100m term loan for easyJet. The borrower will use the loan to finance the purchase of three Boeing 737-300s and the refinancing of three Boeing 737-300s. HSBC will sign the £55m five year facility for New Look next week. The loan has been well supported in general syndication and has been fully subscribed.

* European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA