Flows were extremely slow on the heels of the weekend which was the scene to both the Oscars and the G-20 meeting.

The Artist took home Oscars for five awards including Best Picture and Best Actor.

This player should stick to his day job; fifteen minutes into the silent movie's premiere at the theater this player got up annoyed and walked out.

Sometimes the consensus can baffle the observer.

The broad market consensus continues to favor "risk-on" sentiment, although today for the first time in a few weeks we saw a "flight-to-quality" bid for U.S. Treasury bonds.

Another tranche of the European Central Bank's (ECB) LTRO (long term refinancing operation) program kicks off this week.

Given the massive effect the last LTRO round had on credit spreads, particularly for European banks and financials, the incremental impact this time around should be relatively muted.

There will be a wave of European sovereign debt issuance this week: €3 billion by Belgium, €8.5 billion by Italy, €4 billion by Germany, €7.5 billion by France, and €3.4 billion by Spain.

The LTRO should help ensure that the markets remain receptive to these sovereign bond deals, despite any hiccups out of Greece.

With the German interior minister suggesting that the Greeks should exit the Euro, this story is not over just yet.

And why an interior minister gets to comment on such an international matter is another question.

Maybe the Germans are sending a message that increasingly the issue of Greece has become a domestic German question.

The G-20 chatter centered on the need for a greater European commitment to its firewall: the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) and the ESM (European Stability Mechanism).

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) will play a role as well but given election year considerations, Washington will limit what it commits to the IMF.

A plot to assassinate Russia's Vladimir Putin was uncovered, coincidentally just a few days before Russia's Presidential election.

With oil prices well above $100 a barrel, Putin will win the election, with or without the boost from the assassination attempt.

It will be a busy calendar week with ISM (Institute for Supply Management) and retail sales numbers out.