Global Equity Markets open in red

Global equity markets started the week on the back foot after Friday's strong U.S. jobs data stoked concerns that the Fed could raise interest rates as soon as June. In Asia, Japan GDP revisions also hurt sentiment, following a new report that estimated the economy grew an annualized 1.5% in the October-December period, down from an initial reading of 2.2% in February. German export figures similarly kept markets subdued, after January's seasonally-adjusted exports posted their biggest drop in five months.

Global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) will exceed $120B in 2015, surpassing iron ore as the most valuable commodity after oil, Goldman analysts say. Competition among producers will increase as buyers shift away from long-term contracts. U.S. supplies coming online and other factors will lead to declines in LNG prices "until they can challenge thermal coal in the fuel mix of the power sector,"

RBI slash repo rate by 25bps to 7.5%--- a surprise move from central bank.

The government welcomed a surprise interest rate cut on Wednesday as good news for the economy that would not pose any inflationary risks.

Both the rate cut and last weekend's annual budget were "consistent with non-inflationary growth",

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered its policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent on Wednesday, its second inter-meeting cut this year on the back of easing inflation and what it said was the "weak state" of parts of the economy.

The cut comes days after the government and the Reserve Bank of India agreed to formally adopt inflation targeting, although the central bank had been effectively using targets since early 2014.

Analysts said the RBI's rate cut appeared to give backing to the government's fiscal plans and its pledge to exercise responsibility despite a delay in meeting a fiscal deficit target of 3 percent of gross domestic product by a year to 2017/18.

Indian bonds and rupee rose sharply after the cut. The benchmark 10-year bond yield dropped to as much as 7.61 percent, its lowest level since July 15, 2013. The partially convertible rupee gained to as much as 61.65 to the dollar, its strongest level since Feb. 4.

Japan out of recession with 2.2% annualized growth

Japan emerges from recession with 2.2% annualized growth in the last quarter of 2014.

Inflation stabilizes at 2.4% and is likely to be met with Bank of Japan inaction.

Strong industrial production resulted in equity rally, but further caution warranted

In an early encouraging sign, Japan's industrial production in January 2015 surged to 4.0% over market expectations of 2.9% and December 2014 growth of just 0.8%.

This expansion is expected to carry on to February and March 2015 which is mainly attributed to foreign demand instead of domestic demand for Japan at this stage.

The Japanese equity market took this positively together with the fact that Japan is officially out of recession

Rise in German retail sales push DAX to record high

German retail sales and record index advances in the U.S. fueled European stocks earlier in the session, pushing the DAX up a staggering 16.4% YTD. Retail sales rose by 2.9% M/M and 5.3% Y/Y in January, heavily beating economists' forecast for a 0.3% M/M decline. U.S. stocks also began the new month with a bang, as the Nasdaq closed above the 5,000 level for the first time since March 2000, yesterday, and the Dow and S&P 500 set new records

China cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point over the weekend, while a survey showed HSBC's PMI climbing from 49.7 to 50.7 in February, the strongest level since July. "Deflationary risk and the property market slowdown are two main reasons for the rate cut this time," said a central bank official. In the last few months, China has been showing further signs of flagging economic growth, with GDP dipping to 7.3% in Q4 - its slowest rate in over two decades, and CPI sliding to 0.8% in January - its weakest showing since late 2009.

India’s Finance Ministry has projected the country's economic growth to accelerate to a four-year high of between 8.1%-8.5% in the fiscal year starting April, making the South Asian nation one of the fastest-growing economies. The latest projection is much higher than the 7.4% growth the ministry forecast for this fiscal year, as falling oil prices and the government’s commitment to implementing economic reforms have improved the country's outlook.