Technological developments in multilateral trading facilities look set to be much more significant than link-ups between private monopoly exchanges.

With falling returns for hedge funds, it looks as if a trend might be developing for their employees to return to less risky, better remunerated roles in investment banks.

Private equity in the Gulf is developing fast but investors need to seek out experienced firms.

NYSE will keep the floor alive having introduced electronic trading; critics say floor traders will soon be swamped.

Washington Mutual has broken new ground in several areas during the past year. Not least as the first American issuer of a covered bond. However, it made a substantial impact with its hybrid issuance too. WaMu’s treasurer, Robert Williams, explains his bank’s financing strategy to Alex Chambers.

The wilder shores of technical analysis never want for proponents and followers. So are there perhaps truths to be found in all this numerology? Or is it just a load of bloody offal?

The price that Macquarie was prepared to pay for Thames Water graphically illustrates the impact that infrastructure funds are having on this sector.

Private equity has emerged a clear winner from stock market volatility in the Middle East – a large number of funds were set up as a result. But is there a risk of a bubble developing in this market too? Kathryn Wells finds out.

Strange market conditions prevail as companies face investors that are spoilt for choice and hedge funds that are increasingly cautious.

Tata Steel’s bid for Corus is at the vanguard of corporate India buying cross-border assets.

The back office is the unglamorous end of the deal chain. But as some banks are now finding out, keeping the pipes clear is vital if business is to be kept flowing from the front end. Lee Oliver reports.

In two new reports, TowerGroup makes the easy prediction that daily volumes in FX will soon surpass $3 trillion. But making sense of whether the market will consolidate has proved harder to predict for the consultancy firm.

Several private equity firms are poised to launch new debt management businesses as the European CLO market goes into overdrive.

As recently as May this year, following the two 25 basis point increases of December 2005 and March 2006 that raised the European Central Bank’s main refinancing rate to 2.5%, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet was speaking of the “still very low levels of nominal and real interest rates across the whole maturity spectrum”.

It’s easy to see why Brian Hunter of Amaranth notoriety – and so many others – were caught long of natural gas. The prices of natural gas have risen dramatically since 2000. But how much of that increase has been due to underlying supply and demand?

Citigroup is paying $3.1 billion for a 20% stake in Akbank, the country’s largest privately owned bank, just months after losing the battle to buy Finansbank. National Bank of Greece was the victor in that sale.

The increased use of ever more powerful computers in the financial markets is having an unexpected effect on Canary Wharf, London’s supposedly modern, high-tech business location.

As readers of September’s 408-page issue will appreciate, Euromoney seldom finds itself lost for words.

“Another pandemic or a large event risk such as a full-scale ground war, or various nuclear bombs exploding in large cities in any of the three countries would cause a loss for the noteholders”

Abu Dhabi Energy Company (Taqa) has sold a $3.5 billion equivalent debut bond, containing a €750 million seven-year tranche, a $1 billion 10-year tranche and a $1.5 billion 30-year portion, making it the largest ever straight bond from the Middle East.

Freddie Mac withdraws liquidity from the euro market.

Euronext.liffe makes an attempt to regain a foothold in derivative futures trading at the long end of the European bond curve this month when it launches a new range of bond futures based on the whole eurozone and the largest eurozone countries – Germany, France and Italy.

Singapore smog worst in ten years

“We’ve got samurais, kangaroos and bulldogs – now what we really need is a name for all these bonds coming out of Kazakhstan...”

European issuers tapping the US capital market are increasingly using the extendible note market. They are driven by a need for liquid markets and relatively low appetite for the regulatory complications involved with 144a SEC registration

The City of Moscow’s Sergei Pakhomov hopes that full rouble convertibility will offer a way around restrictive legislation that governs municipal issuance in Russia.

As the unremittingly positive attitude of investors and analysts towards Vietnam just seems to get even more positive, capital raising for new fund launches is rising fast.

Bank of New York has launched a new website offering “enhanced FX research and analysis capabilities, including detailed data on cross-border investment trends, daily FX commentary, in-depth examination of economic news and central bank decisions, as well as coverage of daily worldwide events that affect currency, equity and fixed income markets”.

Fitch Ratings has launched a wholly owned subsidiary devoted to the credit derivatives sector.

SG aims to capitalize on the increasing demand for credit derivatives as a risk mitigation tool.