Credit markets
Credit quality improving in February, defaults delayed to 2008
Hawaii-based risk technology vendor Kamakura has reported a further drop in its monthly global index of troubled companies, signifying an improvement in global credit quality.
South Africa - Looking to new heights
Inflation
Gearing up for ever higher leverage
Rising leverage in the global system coupled with fears for the accuracy of credit risk pricing dominated discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. But not everyone is downbeat, as Matthew Attwood finds out
The Big Interview: LMA
Should high-yield issuers publicly disclose details of their loan agreements? Nikki Marmery talks to the LMA about this thorny issue
Back to basics
We take you back to the credit basics to review everything you thought you already knew but were too afraid to ask ... Juan-Carlos Martorell, director in structured credit marketing at ABN Amro in London explains the mechanics of CPDOs
CDS documentation
Market graphic
Q: What do the distressed debt market and the Japanese puffer-fish have in common? A: They're both irresistible - but highly toxic
Distressed debt investors gearing up for a bumper year should take note of the name of Babson's new credit fund, Fugu, after the deadly Japanese puffer-fish - a prized delicacy that can be lethal if not prepared correctly. Philip Moore reports on the new…
Investing Philly-style: Aberdeen AM's US fixed-income team
Cross-asset class teamwork coupled with conservative risk management drives Aberdeen Asset Management's investment strategy, leading to a current concentration on MBS and an underweight allocation to corporate bonds. This year they're on the lookout for…
TABX launches into rocky ABS market
Dealers started trading tranches of the ABX indices just as fears of subprime mortgage losses sent spreads reeling and caused wildly divergent pricing on the new product
Oxygen for the markets
... or why market sentiment is propping up ill companies
It's different this time - really
The advent of the structured credit market has changed investors' understanding of risk. What's more, the triggers for widespread losses will not be the same this time round
Winner: Wienerberger
Amongst the month's most innovative and ground-breaking deals in the credit markets, we highlight Wienerberger's hybrid, Anderson Valley II CDO and HBOS's $3bn covered bond
Subprime mortgages trigger ABX sell-off
Investors in the subprime mortgage sector might have been expecting some kind of market correction after a jump in delinquency rates at the back end of 2006. What they weren't expecting was a full-scale stampede out of the ABX index. Credit reports
iTraxx roll date poses first test for CPDOs
Market participants downplay concerns that fast money accounts may exploit the index roll by trading against CPDO managers when the series rolls on March 20