"Buying up debt from bankrupt countries in the hope that they’ll receive a bailout from other bankrupt countries seemed like a good idea at the time."
A MF Global employee who lost their job in the MF Global fallout
"Unless we see a European version of Paulson’s bazooka soon, then I would expect further bank failures before much longer"
The head of FIG at a leading investment bank reflects on the collapse of Dexia
"That was a stunning, confidence-building, brave and well-timed deal by an outstanding issuer highly tuned into the market"
A FIG DCM banker is overjoyed at Rabobank’s seven-year senior unsecured bond deal...
"It’s a bit desperate if we’re supposed to celebrate because mighty Rabo can borrow at 125bp over mid-swaps"
...while a fund manager at a fixed-income investor is not quite so impressed
"We have reached a point of no return... which is also a dead-end street"
An investor bemoans how European governments efforts to guarantee funding for the banks on which the governments themselves depend for funding are undercut by sovereigns’ own weak credit