• China may look to increase its participation in the euro zone bail out funds, says Premier Wen Jiabao. In a joint media conference the premier said China was still studying how it might contribute. China wants to see better fiscal controls in the region and greater commitment from other global players before committing. From Reuters News.
• EU President Herman Van Rompuy says the euro zone is at a critical turning point in the region’s debt crisis. He pointed to lower yields on Italian and Spanish bonds relative to German benchmarks and results from this week’s summit as proof of a positive turn. From Bloomberg News.
• Xstrta and Glencore International are in talks to merge, creating the third largest mining company. Xstrata is already 34% owned by Glencore. The all share deal would create a compnay with a market cap of about $80B. If completed, the combination will create a giant in mining and trading with better scale to compete with giants BHP and Rio Tinto. From The Wall Street Journal.
• Deutsche Bank reported a disappointing 4th quarter loss in pretax earnings. Revenues declined 7% to 6.9 billion euros, and net income declined to 186 million euros from 605 million last year. The investment and corporate banking businesses were hampered by a difficult trading environment and a soft economy in Europe. From The Financial Times.