Gasoline prices much bigger burden to the European economy

Stocks traded lower and in the primary corporate bond space the issuance pipeline slowed down.
Corporate primary bond issuance was front-loaded toward the beginning of the week.
Cash bonds are beginning to turn heavy (weaker) with stocks, although volumes are still low with quarter-end almost here.
In the sovereign space, taking advantage of high energy prices, the Russian Federation issued a mammoth $7 billion of USD-denominated debt.
Russia issued bonds in a three-part multiple maturity offering: $3 billion of 30 year debt, $2 billion of 10 year debt, and $2 billion of 5 year debt.
In Europe, Italy auctioned off €8.5 billion of bonds at the lowest rates since September 2010, before the European sovereign crisis seized Italy.
The Europeans are having a finance powwow this weekend, probably with an aim to forestall any panic around Spain.
As a preemptive measure, European bureaucrats are talking about boosting the size of the firewall to between €700 and €940 billion.
Greek elections are also next month so that might add volatility to the mix.
There is much chatter about releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
There is an almost $8 differential between the price of gasoline in the U.S. and the price of gasoline in Europe.
So while gasoline prices are somewhat of an issue in the U.S., it is a much bigger burden to the European economy.
Much to the chagrin of traders who would like to arbitrage the differential, one cannot export refined gasoline from the U.S. due to government regulation.
This being an election year, there is even talk of an U.S. export ban on crude oil.
GDP and initial jobless claims numbers are out on Thursday.