The surging value of the U.S. dollar may be posing the biggest threat to U.S. corporate earnings since the 2008 financial crisis, hurting results at most U.S.-based multinationals. Some on Wall Street are even talking about an earnings recession.
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As the dollar surged in the last 12 months, David Marcus, head of the Evermore Global Value fund, steadily increased his stake in Europe. He now has 60 percent of his portfolio invested in companies in the euro zone, the largest stake among any global fund tracked by Lipper.
Germany's economy minister has promised to block any clauses in a trade deal between the European Union and the United States that go against the ideals of his center-left Social Democrats (SPD), including investor protection clauses wanted by the Americans.
World shares rose back towards all-time highs and a slump then jump in the dollar triggered wild moves in currency markets on Thursday, as investors priced in a later start and a slower pace for future U.S. rate rises.
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.
