Mario Draghi's communication skills have proved exceptionally effective. Since the famous “whatever it takes” in 2012, yields for peripheral sovereign debts have converged sharply towards levels for German debt. Yields for BTPs, Bonos and IGBs sit at record lows.

According to Daniel Isidori, fund manager at Threadneedle Investments, the Brazilian companies most affected by the upcoming election are state owned and rather than taking exposure to all of them, he suggests to have a small overweight in the energy giant Petrobras...

Euro-denominated money market funds have already taken investment and operational measures to prepare for yields declining or even turning negative, should short-term money market rates shift in that direction following the European Central Bank's decision to cut the rate on its deposit facility to minus 10bp, Fitch Ratings says.

The strong demand in the primary market confirms what is already well known: whatever the inflation expectations, there is significant structural demand, notably from “buy and hold” investors such as pension funds, for bonds indexed to inflation.

The crisis in Ukraine has global markets on edge—and investors fear that deflation could prove a long-term problem for the Eurozone. What matters most, though, is an objective look at economic and financial data.