Gloomy outlook forces credit analysts to jump ship

The credit market is losing the expertise of many leading analysts and strategists who are switching jobs in the worsening climate - at the very time when their research skills could be most needed

As the credit crisis worsened in March to claim fresh victims among major investment banks and high-flying hedge funds, one group of specialists is becoming increasingly notable by their absence in the new market landscape.

Credit analysts - once the indispensable buttresses supporting the entire business of trading and investing in credit - are leaving banks in London in droves as clients continue to sit out depressed and illiquid markets.

Some of those who have left in the first quarter have