The swing could create real pain for investors, since in recent years numerous firms have created trading strategies which have loaded large debt levels onto these 'safe' securities, precisely because they assumed these instruments would never fluctuate in price. 'The last week has seen some of the worst falls in the ABX market this year, especially higher up the capital structure [with highly rated debt],' said Jim Reid, head of fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank."

November 1 - Bloomberg (Shannon D. Harrington and Hamish Risk): "The risk of owning corporate debt reached the highest in seven weeks as credit-default swap traders bet that companies, including Citigroup Inc., will further reduce the value of securities tied to subprime mortgages.

ICICI Ventures to pick up 5% stake in MCX

MUMBAI: ICICI Ventures is close to picking up a 5% equity stake in Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX). Earlier this year multinationals like Merrill Lynch and Citigroup had bought 5% each in the exchange.

According to sources, talks with ICICI Ventures and a couple of other investors have been going on for the past couple of months. An announcement on the same is expected soon. Earlier this year when Financial Technologies (FT), the promoter of MCX, sold its stake to Citi and Merrill Lynch the exchange was valued at slightly over $1 bn. The stake sale to ICICI Ventures is also likely to be around the same valuation.

ICICI Ventures may buy the stake from Financial Technologies. FT currently holds 49% in the exchange. The other major stakeholders of the exchange are HDFC Bank, SBI and other public sector banks holding a total 27%, FID Fund (Mauritus) — an affiliate of Fidelity International has a 9% stake, both Citi and Merrill Lynch have a 5% stake each, Passport India Investment (Mauritius) has 3% stake while GLG Financials Fund has another 2% stake.

Reflation Contemplation

High interest rates in the US, and lower rates at home, meant that the dollars invested by Beijing in the US earned the central bank more than it was paying out in local currency bills. But the monetary policy cycles have now abruptly reversed. Rates are falling in the US but rising in China, where the government is tightening credit to fight inflation and cool some sectors of the economy. As a result, China's central bank will be paying about 250 bps more on the bills it issues at home than it gets on US Treasuries... Simple mathematics suggests that Beijing is losing billions of dollars as a result, an amount amplified if the impact of China's appreciating currency is taken into account."

January 31 - Bloomberg (Gavin Finch): "The Swiss franc rose to a record high against the dollar as widening financial sector losses and a decline in stocks prompted investors to sell higher-yielding assets...

Ace Ethanol LLC Selects Planalytics EnergyBuyer for Natural Gas ...

WAYNE, Pa., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Planalytics Inc. announced today that Ace Ethanol LLC has licensed the EnergyBuyer(SM) service to help the company monitor natural gas market prices and identify when it is a good time to buy or hedge its natural gas.

Planalytics EnergyBuyer continuously analyzes market conditions to provide clients with straightforward "buy" or "don't buy" guidance up to a year in advance.

A Path Worth Taking? The Prospects and Challenges of a U.S.-Taiwan ...

Taiwan will also look forward to discussing the FTAAP concept with our APEC partners. In addition, Taiwan has set a short-term goal to launch FTAs with key trading partners like the United States. Taiwan's efforts to negotiate bilateral FTAs would help to preserve and maintain momentum for promoting open, fair and free trade liberalization at the WTO and in APEC.

Capitol South, Washington, D.C.: The mid-term elections last year in the U.S. changed the composition of Congress in ways that may have increased the legislature's anti-trade sentiment. With the President's Trade Promotion Authority expiring on June 30, 2007, and new legislation required to extend it beyond that time, why is Taiwan continuing efforts to pursue negotiation of a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S.