On Thursday, February 5, 2015, the African Development Bank (AfDB) successfully launched and priced a new 1 billion 5-year US dollar global benchmark due February 12, 2020. This is the AfDB's first US dollar global benchmark of the year.

HSBC Holdings, Banco Santander, Lloyds Banking Group and BNP Paribas held on to their top positions in SNL Financial's new league table of Europe's 20 largest banks by market capitalization.

Euronext, the primary exchange in the Eurozone, is announcing the launch at the beginning of March 2015 of its new premium milling wheat no. 3 contract, subject to final regulatory approval.

According to Jean François Robin, Analyst at Natixis, Considering that a EUR 500bn asset purchase programme was anticipated, one can expect a bull flattening and convergence trades (search for liquidity plus pooling, albeit partial) to predominate, while euro looks set to extend its decline whereas risky assets, especially equities, should benefit, probably even gold in the short term...

The European Central Bank's (ECB) recently announced bond buying program should help stabilize financial markets both in the Eurozone and elsewhere. However, quantitative easing by the ECB may not be a panacea for what ails the Eurozone. More must be done to heighten the global competiveness of member economies.