Get inside information from the president and you will probably lose half your money. If you get it from the chairman of the board, you will lose all your money — Jim Roger

1. Austria Sells Bonds at Negative Yield — MarketWatch, Austria joined a handful of European countries that have sold five-year government bonds at a negative yield at an auction, reflecting low and falling borrowing costs across the euro zone. This means investors are effectively paying the Austrian state for buying its debt.
In february, Finland and Germany sold 2020-dated five-year bonds, while Sweden sold 2019-dated bonds at negative yields.
2. ECB to Begin Government Bond Purchases on March 9 — MarketWatch, As expected, the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at its March meeting in Cyprus. ECB President Mario Draghi revealed some important details of the bond-buying program in his news conference.
3. China Lowered Its Growth Forecast to 7% for 2015 — at China’s National People’s Congress opening, Chinese premier Li Keqiang uses the highly anticipated opening address to set GDP expectations for the country at about 7%, and a consumer inflation target of 3%. Last year’s target was around 7.5%;
4. The Reserve Bank of India Surprised Markets by Cutting Rates for the Second Time This Year — the Reserve Bank of India surprised markets last week by cutting rates for the second time this year, joining a world-wide trend of monetary easing that is driving global interest rates to multi-year lows. Citing easing inflation and weakness in parts of the economy, the central bank lowered its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 7.5%.
5. Historical Bull Markets For The S&P 500 — courtesy of BIG, the bull market will have to celebrate its sixth birthday retroactively unless a new closing high is made on 3/9/2015. below are two tables showing historical bull markets for the S&P 500 going back to 1928. The table on the left shows bull markets by date (oldest to most recent), while the table on the right shows bull markets by length (from longest to shortest).

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: