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Investors are still piling into US corporate bonds but there’s little sign of improved credit quality to justify this desperate enthusiasm. What’s more, interest rates must rise sooner or later. • Kathryn Tully reports

Who says economists are dull? Three of Wall Street's finest, and most bearish, took part in an early-morning debate about the impact of the Iraq war on the US economy at the Council for Foreign Relations in New York last month. At times it was like stand-up comedy, with Morgan Stanley chief economist Stephen Roach as the main act.

When e-enthusiasm cooled, swap trading platforms hadn't got far. Now, though, old ideas are being revived and new ones mooted. ? Tom Marshall reports

The German banks' latest ploy for repairing balance sheets bloated with non-performing loans is laughable. Siphoning off the good loans and leaving behind the non-performing ones - those that the banks really should be doing something about - can only result in balance sheets in worse shape than before.

2003 FX Poll results are comprised of:

The term "black box" investing has often been applied to quantitative fund management, though it is seen by its practitioners as a somewhat pejorative description. Whatever black boxes they have at BGI, they certainly seem to work.

Last month HS Securities of Japan secured the 100% purchase of Agricultural Bank of Mongolia when its head, Hideo Sawada, delivered $6.85 million to Ulaanbaatar.

Following last year's surprise jump up the rankings, UBS has now made it to the top of the market share table in Euromoney's annual forex poll. Katie Astbury reports; research by Andrew Newby, Paul Pedzinski and Dave Skallinder.

Issuer: France Telecom Size: e16 billion Bookrunners: ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas

The Indian stock markets fundamentally reassessed Indian information technology stocks last month. Jolted by a sharp fall in profit margins and a profit warning for the next fiscal year from Infosys, the bellwether for Indian IT companies, the stock sank. The market capitalization of Indian IT stocks has shrunk by over a third this year to Rs662.8 billion ($14 billion) on April 24, tipping the 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex to a six-month low. That is likely to lead to the postponement of an initial public offering by Tata Consultancy Services, the biggest exporter of Indian software services, which has been trying to list for over a year now.

The history of legislation on banking foundations in Italy is not a happy one. Successive governments have tried to stamp their mark, with the aim of eroding the foundations' power. This government is no different. Finance minister Giulio Tremonti has tried to wrest a bit more influence from them and next month, or perhaps the one after, could be the moment of truth. That's when the constitutional court will present its decision on whether the foundations must sell the shares they hold in banks. It isn't difficult to see why what these bodies do interests the government. Between them, the 89 foundations hold almost e40 billion in assets, including big stakes in Italy's banks. This ownership dates back to 1990, when the government decided to split savings banks into two in recognition of their different and sometimes conflicting functions. One body - the bank - became a joint-stock company responsible for financial operations. The other - the banking foundation - retained charitable status and a social role, maintaining cultural attractions and historical monuments for example.

For two months Hong Kong's 6.8 million residents have been at the centre of the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, better known across the border in mainland China as "strictly avoiding realistic statistics". But the crisis now seems driven more by fear and hysteria than actual risk of infection.