VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Greece's liquidity problems are "insignificant", the country's finance minister said on German television on Sunday, pledging that the Greek government would take all steps necessary to repay its debts.

Once depicted as a "Blue Banana" stretching from Manchester to Milan, Europe's industrial heartland has moved eastwards just as its political center of gravity has shifted to Germany.

The euro dived to its lowest since early 2003 against the dollar on Wednesday, dragging other European currencies with it on the back of the huge differences developing in market interest rates between Europe and the United States.

U.S. wholesale inventories unexpectedly rose in January as sales recorded their biggest decline since 2009, lifting the number of months it would take to clear warehouses to its highest level in more than 5-1/2 years.

Business software maker SAP SE (SAPG.DE) will cut about 2,250 posts, or around 3 percent of its global workforce, while creating a similar number in expanding parts of the company, as it accelerates a push to sell its products via the Internet.

In a smart building in an upscale neighborhood of Gaza City, Salah El-Zanin is seeing a growing number of clients. Trained in Greece, he is the only plastic surgeon in Gaza with European qualifications, and his business is booming.

The main talking point at this week's Geneva car show is likely to be a vehicle that may never be built: the Apple car. The world's automakers will gather in the Swiss city to tout their latest minivans, city cars and sport utility vehicles against an uncertain market backdrop, with growing signs of recovery in Europe offset by slowing demand in emerging markets.

Greek funding and quantitative easing in Europe, an expected rate cut in Australia and the buoyant U.S. labor market are set to be the focus of an economic week dominated by a host of central bank meetings.

U.S. stocks closed lower on the last trading day of February after mixed U.S. economic data on a day when European stocks hit records and oil prices rebounded for their first monthly gain since June.

Germany's parliament approved an extension of Greece's bailout on Friday after Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who has voiced doubts about whether Athens can be trusted, promised he would not let Greece "blackmail" its euro zone partners.

European shares rose to fresh seven-year highs on Friday, extending a two-month rally fueled by the European Central Bank's money printing program which starts in the coming weeks.

Oil rose towards $62 a barrel on Thursday as indications of a coming recovery in demand offset a further jump in U.S. crude stockpiles which underlined currently ample supplies.

European planemaker Airbus is talking to suppliers about the possibility of raising production of its A320 family of aircraft to 50 jets a month as early as 2017, narrowing a gap with rival Boeing (BA.N), a senior industry source said on Tuesday.

The Federal Reserve is preparing to consider interest rate hikes "on a meeting-by-meeting basis," Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a congressional committee on Tuesday, a subtle shift of emphasis that helps lay the groundwork for the Fed's first rate hike since 2006.

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, taking their cues from Wall Street's gains after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested the Fed would not rush into raising interest rates.