Hope, fear and wonder as a new market opens

Tentatively at first, then in a growing rush of enthusiasm, the first corporate bonds in the new single currency began to appear in January. Before long, scores of companies were clamouring to reach this broad, new investor base. Then came confusion in pricing and growing investor disenchantment. But the restructuring of Europe should mean that the continent's corporate bond market is here to stay. And as investors learn to tell the good deals from the bad, it is beginning to acquire depth and maturity. Rebecca Bream reports