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Acceptance as asset class and Ucits III mean new retail currency funds.

Most analysts got it wrong in 2005, who says they’ll get it right this time?

Investors seem to like Mexico’s new investment fund, Impulsora del Desarrollo Económico de America Latina (Ideal), owned by the country’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

Last year was tumultuous for Ecuador. A president was ousted, a spat with the World Bank threatened to get out of hand and there were genuine fears that the sovereign might default. At long last, though, there are signs that Ecuador might be on the path to recovery, not least because of the strong support that the sovereign received for its first bond issue in six years.

Latin American banks have come a long way since the financial crises of the 1990s and ordinary citizens are bringing their savings out from under their mattresses like never before.

Corporate hybrid has moved beyond investment grade. The development is significant for the leveraged finance community – it’s one thing persuading buyers to invest in the subordinated debt of an investment-grade company, but finding investors receptive to one from a BB/Ba2 credit is quite another. Hedge funds and certain other institutional investors were reluctant to get involved. Yet German tourism and shipping company Tui was able to raise €300 million of perpetual (non-call seven) debt rated B+/B1 via Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HVB and RBS. The coupon was 8.625%. Those going for the issue, of whom a big proportion are retail investors, certainly deserve that coupon given that this is a highly cyclical business. The deal was part of a €1.3 billion offering to refinance short-term acquisition funding of CP Ships.

Analysts are pondering the new economy minister’s strategy.

The annual meeting of EMTA, formerly the Emerging Market Traders Association, has for the past few years been an exercise in watching analysts berate themselves for not being sufficiently bullish about the previous year. The 2005 meeting was no exception: no one thought, a year ago, that emerging-market debt would return anything like the 9% it ended up posting over the course of the year.

Brazil’s economy shrank 1.2% in the third quarter as pressure mounted on the scandal-hit Lula administration. The performance, which was much worse than analysts had been expecting, came after a rise in output of 1.1% in the second quarter. Analysts suggest that Brazil’s high interest rate is stifling growth. At one point the base rate was at 19.75%, before dropping back to 18.5%. Confidence in Brazil has also been shaken by corruption scandals involving the ruling PT Party.

A close ally of Hugo Chávez has claimed that the CIA plotted to assassinate Venezuela’s president in the run-up to last month’s legislative elections. Nicolas Maduro, president of the National Assembly, says that the CIA wanted to disrupt Venezuela’s democracy by killing the country’s leader. “They planned to suspend the elections,” he said. “They planned to attack the head of state, assassinate top officials and carry out massive killings – all these charges are backed up by conversations between the very participants.” The CIA has denied all the allegations. “It’s nonsense,” said a spokesman at the agency.

EMEA to see further growth in asset-backed transactions.

Rash of strategic sales and IPOs planned.