Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news Swiss voters have overwhelmingly backed proposals to impose some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, final referendum results show.
Nearly 68% of the voters supported plans to give shareholders a veto on compensation and ban big payouts for new and departing managers.
Business groups argued the proposals would damage Swiss competitiveness.
The eurozone jobless rate hit 11.9% in January, while inflation was only 1.8% in February according to data out over the weekend. The highest unemployment rate was in Greece at 27%, the lowest in Austria at 4.9%.
The ECB reviews its interest rates on Friday and there is a chance they could reduce it then, but analysts said the high unemployment and low figure for inflation would make it more likely that the ECB would cut its interest rates later in the year from the current rate of 0.75%.
Beppe Grillo, the comedian who holds the balance of power in Italy, has suggested the country may have to abandon the euro and return to the lire.
In an interview with a German magazine published on Saturday, Grillo said that if conditions do not change Italy will want to leave the euro and return to its former national currency. Grillo also said Italy needs to renegotiate its €2 trillion debt.
In the US rates aren't rising anytime soon. Fed boss Ben Bernanke said attempting to raise borrowing costs too soon could choke off the economic expansion as he pushed back against criticism that low rates are hurting people on fixed incomes and encouraging excessive risk-taking by investors.
US 10 year Treasury yields slid to 1.84% following a fall in February, which reversed the rises in December and January. The rush to equities hasn't happened yet.
In China, data released Sunday showed that China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index stood at 54.5, down from January's 56.2 and the slowest pace of growth since September 2012. Although a five-month low, the PMI reading indicates that the services sector is still experiencing good growth.
This follows slowing manufacturing growth, and China may hold off tightening monetary policy when Premier Wen Jiabao outlines economic policies at the start of the National People’s Congress in Beijing later this week.
The kiwi dollar starts the week a touch lower at 82.5 USc, 80.9 AUc, and the TWI is a touch higher at 75.9 due to a rise in the yen.
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