Enron Mail

From:karin.levin@enron.com
To:jarek.astramowicz@enron.com, john.bottomley@enron.com, s..bradford@enron.com,london.brown@enron.com, rick.buy@enron.com, paul.chivers@enron.com, markus.fiala@enron.com, renata.frankova@enron.com, nigel.friend@enron.com, joe.gold@enron.com, david.gorte
Subject:Sovereign Bond Spreads, 24 August 2001
Cc:
Bcc:
Date:Tue, 28 Aug 2001 10:12:08 -0700 (PDT)

Sovereign Bond Spreads:

=20

Significant New Issuance - CSFB Commentary:

?=09The emerging debt markets rallied this week as the long expected new IM=
F package for Argentina was finally announced on Tuesday. Argentina will re=
ceive US$8bn in new loans from the IMF, of which US$5bn will be allocated n=
ext month to reinforce reserves that were depleted as a result of massive s=
avings withdrawal. Another US$3bn will be extended if Argentina obtains an =
agreement to cut financing costs through a debt swap and possible buyback. =
The rally in Argentina spilled over first to the higher yielding EM assets =
(Brazil, Turkey etc), then helped other credits, although the impact was so=
fter. However, the Argentine problem is far from solved, as the Republic's =
government still has to deliver on its promises of a zero budget deficit an=
d debt restructuring, therefore the medium term outlook is still cautious. =
The Turkish market traded up after the Argentina package was announced; the=
rally was also helped by the satisfactory T-Bills auction results and othe=
r positive news from the country. For Russian assets, the IMF announcement =
was also a long awaited boost: volumes increased significantly with prices =
climbing by more than 2 points. The Russian US$ yield curve is getting very=
steep because most of the supply that we see is concentrated in Russia 203=
0, while the buying interest is spread across the curve. Central and Easter=
n European asset prices were on average ? point higher on the week with Pol=
and underperforming other countries after the S&P changed its outlook on fo=
reign currency rating for the Republic from "positive" to "stable". The EMB=
I+ Index tightened by 50 bps in one session on Wednesday and closed 29 bps =
tighter on the week.
?=09On Tuesday the FOMC cut the Fed Funds rate for the 7th time this year b=
y 25 bps to 3.50%, the lowest since April 1994. The accompanying Fed statem=
ent pointed at the slowing global growth and weakening business profits and=
capital spending in the US, thus suggesting further easing is possible.
?=09As market conditions remain difficult and we are still in a traditional=
August holiday period, primary market activity is very slow but expected t=
o soar in September with a number of deals waiting in the pipeline.