Ben Aris in Berlin
Wed, 25th Mar -- There is something wrong with the bond market. The yields on Eastern Europe's debt € both corporate and sovereign € seem to bear little relation to reality. Take, for example, the fact that on the day Iceland defaulted on its debt last year, spreads on the Russia 30 sovereign Eurobonds were higher than those of Iceland € and this was despite Russia being the least-leveraged economy in the world.

bne
Wed, 25th Mar -- Total external debt in CEE is much lower than that in developed countries, but what will sort out the strong from the vulnerable is how much of the external debt is denominated in foreign currency.

Ben Aris in Berlin
Wed, 25th Mar -- Crises hurt, but for those that come out the other side with money in the bank, they also represent massive opportunities. As the Russian economy begins to stabilise, there has been a small, but perceptible, up tick in merger and acquisition activity at the end of February.

Troika Dialog in Moscow
Wed, 25th Mar -- --The Russian Eurobond market has a more optimistic feel since the beginning of 2009, in stark contrast to the end of the previous year. Significant demand for Eurobonds from traditional equity investors and local players (which were trying to escape from ruble territory) pushed yields down significantly, especially at the short end of the curve. But the global environment is still far from stable, meaning volatility is likely to remain high in the near term.

bne
Wed, 25th Mar -- Russia's deputy PM has pointed out that though the Russian stock market is amongst the worst-performing markets in the world in terms of time lost, "this only takes us back to 2003. America's markets have done much worse."

Jiri Kominek and Nicholas Watson in Prague
Wed, 25th Mar -- Hard times spell trouble for most; for a few, though, they offer great opportunities.

bne
Wed, 25th Mar -- A recent survey asked financial market experts for their view on the expected performance of various sectors in Central and Eastern Europe in 2009. The result? Better to be a food producer than a food preparer.

bne
Wed, 25th Mar -- Following a disastrous year for the capital markets, only eight of 92 companies from Russia and the rest of the CIS finished 2008 with a higher market capitalization than at their time of listing, according to an annual report by financial communications consultancy The PBN Company.