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A rise in capital investment of up to 14% and a 12% boost to technology spend has been forecast at US corporates over the next year, according to the latest CFO Outlook Survey produced by Financial Executives International. This compares favourably with figures from the previous quarter, where CFOs predicted respective rises of 8% and 7%. The bullish outlook on capital and technology spend is in contrast to the majority of CFOs (56%) who are feeling the impact of rising producer prices from the last quarter. More than three quarters of those CFOs ? 77% - will pass on at least half or all of the increased costs to customers.

Telecom Italia has become the latest corporate to enter the loan market, following a busy year in 2004 that saw companies like Celanese, Vaillant and Wynn Resorts take advantage of falling fees and margins. The Italian telecoms operator is set to increase its debt to ?44 billion ($59.3 billion) in order to acquire the 44% it does not already own of Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM), its mobile phone arm. The offer, announced in December, is worth ?5.60 per share and is being funded by ?12 billion of loans in three repayment tranches, at 12, 36 and 60 months.

BP Finance has become the first European corporate to start using the Wall Street Systems Hedge Compliance Module to cope with the demands of IAS 39, the hedge accounting legislation that came into force on January 1 2005. As part of its hedging strategy, BP Finance uses derivatives to manage the FX exposure for non-functional currency forecast revenue and capital expenditure transactions.

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After five consecutive 25-basis point interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve in the second half of 2004 the year might have been expected to end with credit spreads lower, a sell-off in emerging-market debt and a slowdown of real-estate investments.

War-torn Colombia has enjoyed a good run in the past two years and given bondholders a lot to cheer about. But now investors are asking if popular president Alvaro Uribe will be able to keep the outlook bright in 2005. Last year Colombian spreads narrowed a sizeable 90 basis points to about 340bp over US treasuries, generating more than 10% in total returns, several notches above the market as a whole. Uribe's success in pushing the country's Marxist guerrillas into retreat after four decades of internal conflict has cut kidnapping and terrorist attacks, boosted business confidence and helped attract investment. Those gains have translated into economic growth of almost 4% in 2003, the highest rate in nearly a decade, and paved the way for a repeat

In a move that will significantly enhance the free float in Indian equities available to overseas investors, sponsored American depositary shares (ADS) offerings worth about $2 billion from Indian companies and banks are expected to be in the market in the first half of this year. Top information technology companies such as Infosys and Satyam Computers and privately owned banks HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have announced plans for their sponsored ADS offerings.

Over the past decade and a half, Tunisia has won plaudits for its gradual macroeconomic reforms and stable monetary policy. The IMF recently noted that "Tunisia's economic performance has been one of the strongest in the region" over the past 10 years. It is one of only three African countries carrying an investment-grade rating " BBB with a stable outlook from all leading agencies.

Halfway through the first decade of the new millennium, the five-year track records of world stock markets show the leading indices in Europe and America still way down on their highs before the tech bubble burst. Emerging markets, including some of the more obscure, have been the big gainers.

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