• The first EU summit of 2012 begins today with the Greek debt swap agreement forcing itself on to the agenda. Stabilization and integration initiatives are at risk to be crowded out by the long running Greek swap saga. From Bloomberg News.
• The Italian economy continues to grind lower, as business confidence fell again in January to November 2009 levels. Manufacturing business confidence was 92.1 in January, from 92.5 in December. Capacity utilization fell to 70.4% in Q4 from 71.7% in the previous three months, as well. From The Wall Street Journal.
• The UBS trader accused of unauthorized trading resulting in losses of as much as $2.3B pleaded not guilty today. The plea sets the stage for a trial in September that will bring some interesting revelations about oversight and trading policies at the bank. From the Wall Street Journal.
• Mitt Romney’s lead in polls over rival Newt Gingrich widened in the Florida primary election set for tomorrow. Over the weekend, Romney’s lead moved from just 4 points Friday to 11 yesterday, according to a poll from Reuters/Ipos released yesterday. From Reuters News.