Wallstreet Journal Weekend Edition March 20, 2015 EU

41
VOL. XXXIII NO. 35 FRIDAY - SUNDAY, MARCH 20 - 22, 2015 Meet the Flat Pack PLUS: Baselworld 2015, in Watches & Jewelry DJIA 17959.03 g 0.65% Nasdaq 4992.38 À 0.19% Stoxx Eur 600 400.83 À 0.55% FTSE 100 6962.32 À 0.25% DAX 11899.40 g 0.20% CAC 40 5037.18 À 0.07% Euro 1.0645 g 2.02% Pound 1.4743 g 1.58% EUROPE EDITION WSJ.com Astronomers in Scotland prepare Thursday for Friday’s solar eclipse, also the day of a supermoon and the spring equinox. Articles, 6 Triple Whammy in the Skies—It’s a Celestial Trifecta New Details In U.S. Probe Of Google WASHINGTON—Key staff of the Federal Trade Commis- sion concluded in 2012 that Google Inc. used anticompeti- tive tactics and abused its mo- nopoly power in ways that harmed Internet users and competitors, a far harsher analysis of Google’s business than was previously known. The staff report from the agency’s bureau of competi- tion, which hasn’t before been disclosed, recommended the commission bring a lawsuit challenging three separate Google practices, a move that would have triggered one of the highest-profile antitrust cases since the Justice De- partment sued Microsoft Corp. in the 1990s. The 160-page critique con- cluded that Google’s “conduct has resulted—and will result— in real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search and advertising mar- kets.” The findings stand in con- trast to the conclusion of the FTC’s commissioners, who voted unanimously in early 2013 to end the investigation after Google agreed to some voluntary changes to its prac- tices. Staff recommendations, which are supposed to remain private but were inadvertently disclosed in an open-records request, usually carry signifi- cant weight with the agency’s five commissioners. At the time of the vote, FTC commissioners were grappling with competing viewpoints, including a sepa- rate staff report from its eco- nomics bureau that recom- mended against a lawsuit. Then-Chairman Jon Lei- bowitz said in a written state- ment at the time that Google’s voluntary changes deliver “more relief for American consumers faster than any other option.” Google General Counsel Kent Walker said in a state- ment Thursday, “After an ex- haustive 19-month review, covering nine million pages of documents and many hours of testimony, the FTC staff and all five FTC Commissioners agreed that there was no need to take action on how we rank and display search results.” “Speculation about poten- tial consumer harm turned out to be entirely wrong,” Mr. Walker added. “Since the in- Please turn to page 17 By Brody Mullins, Rolfe Winkler and Brent Kendall MerkelIntercedesinGreekDispute German Chancellor Angela Merkel is intervening directly in a deepening rift between Greece and its international creditors, a sign of Berlin’s growing concern that the ac- rimony threatens the unity of the eurozone. Ms. Merkel and other key leaders were due to talk with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of a European Union summit on Thursday night. The chancel- lor has also invited Mr. Tsip- ras for face-to-face talks in Berlin on Monday. Neither meeting is likely to resolve the dispute over Greece’s financing needs and economic policies, European officials say. But they show that the Greek crisis is seen in Berlin as enough of a threat to Europe’s stability for heads of government to get in- volved, these people say. The chancellor’s message for Mr. Tsipras—that Greece has no alternative to cooperating with finance officials’ de- mands—is likely to disappoint the Greek leader’s hope for a lenient funding deal. That Europe’s most power- ful leader is trying to assert her authority in the Greek debt crisis reflects Ms. Merkel’s mounting worry that bad blood between Athens and other EU capitals could lead to Greece tumbling out of the euro—an outcome that no eurozone government wants, because of its unpredictable and potentially ruinous conse- quences. So far this year, Ms. Merkel has left the Greek problem to her finance chief Wolfgang Schäuble, while she focused her foreign-policy en- ergies on trying to stem the Please turn to page 4 By Marcus Walker in Athens and Harriet Torry in Berlin Central Banks Shake The Currency World Central banks have lit a fuse under the foreign-ex- change market. Volatility in currency mar- kets has recently rushed up as shifts in policy by major cen- tral banks spark huge bets. The turmoil marks a turn- around from recent years, when ultra-loose monetary policy around the world put markets into hibernation. In the latest episode Wednesday, a message from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it is in no hurry to raise inter- est rates caused a slump in the dollar, which had run up a steep rally this year. The euro surged more than 4% against the buck, its biggest jump in a single day in 15 years, accord- ing to Deutsche Bank AG. On Thursday, the European cur- rency resumed its slide, fall- ing to $1.0621 by afternoon in New York, below the level it reached before the Fed an- nouncement. The sheer speed of the round trip in the euro-dollar Please turn to page 21 National Front Expands Base in French Elections GUERBIGNY, France—Even before votes are counted from Sunday’s local elections, Ma- rine Le Pen’s National Front has scored a victory: For the first time, the once-fringe party will field candidates in nearly every constituency across the country—more than any other political group. The growth underscores the party’s success in expand- ing its base. Ms. Le Pen has toned down its far-right rhet- oric, expelled activists for rac- ist comments and latched on to public anger toward main- stream parties and the Euro- pean Union, which many vot- ers see as responsible for France’s economic ills. The surge is on display in the Somme district in north- ern France, where elementary- school teacher Yves Dupille is among thousands nationwide joining or returning to the anti-immigration, anti-EU party. Mr. Dupille left the Na- tional Front 16 years ago after a period of infighting, then re- joined just over a year ago and became a town councilor in Amiens in March 2014. On Sunday he’s targeting the next rung, seeking to become a representative in the wider Somme region, one of the country’s 101 départements. During a National Front meeting in the town hall of Guerbigny, Mr. Dupille said he had seen little chance of the party gaining power under the Please turn to page 3 BY WILLIAM HOROBIN BY TOMMY STUBBINGTON AND CHIARA ALBANESE Spain’s new leftists face electoral test ................................ 3 Coca-Cola chief has a solution to lost fizz: More soda In Depth ............ 10-11 Troubled oil: Shale and Brent hit hard times Business ................ 15 Inside Getty Images $1.75 (C/V) - KES 250 - NAI 375 - £1.70 Brussels Beat: Athens is shedding sympathizers .......... 2 Heard: Tensions for Greek lenders........................................... 27 Riskiest sovereign borrowers rush to sell debt .................... 19

Transcript of Wallstreet Journal Weekend Edition March 20, 2015 EU

  • VOL. XXXIII NO. 35

    FRIDAY - SUNDAY, MARCH 20 - 22, 2015

    Meet the Flat PackPLUS: Baselworld2015, inWatches&Jewelry

    DJIA 17959.03 g 0.65% Nasdaq 4992.38 0.19% Stoxx Eur 600 400.83 0.55% FTSE 100 6962.32 0.25% DAX 11899.40 g 0.20% CAC 40 5037.18 0.07% Euro 1.0645 g 2.02% Pound 1.4743 g 1.58%

    EUROPE EDITION

    WSJ.com

    Astronomers in Scotland prepare Thursday for Fridays solar eclipse, also the day of a supermoon and the spring equinox. Articles, 6

    Triple Whammy in the SkiesIts a Celestial TrifectaNewDetailsInU.S.ProbeOf Google

    WASHINGTONKey staffof the Federal Trade Commis-sion concluded in 2012 thatGoogle Inc. used anticompeti-tive tactics and abused its mo-nopoly power in ways thatharmed Internet users andcompetitors, a far harsheranalysis of Googles businessthan was previously known.

    The staff report from theagencys bureau of competi-tion, which hasnt before beendisclosed, recommended thecommission bring a lawsuitchallenging three separateGoogle practices, a move thatwould have triggered one ofthe highest-profile antitrustcases since the Justice De-partment sued MicrosoftCorp. in the 1990s.

    The 160-page critique con-cluded that Googles conducthas resultedand will resultin real harm to consumers andto innovation in the onlinesearch and advertising mar-kets.

    The findings stand in con-trast to the conclusion of theFTCs commissioners, whovoted unanimously in early2013 to end the investigation

    after Google agreed to somevoluntary changes to its prac-tices. Staff recommendations,which are supposed to remainprivate but were inadvertentlydisclosed in an open-recordsrequest, usually carry signifi-cant weight with the agencysfive commissioners.

    At the time of the vote,FTC commissioners weregrappling with competingviewpoints, including a sepa-rate staff report from its eco-nomics bureau that recom-mended against a lawsuit.

    Then-Chairman Jon Lei-bowitz said in a written state-ment at the time that Googlesvoluntary changes delivermore relief for Americanconsumers faster than anyother option.

    Google General CounselKent Walker said in a state-ment Thursday, After an ex-haustive 19-month review,covering nine million pages ofdocuments and many hours oftestimony, the FTC staff andall five FTC Commissionersagreed that there was no needto take action on how we rankand display search results.

    Speculation about poten-tial consumer harm turnedout to be entirely wrong, Mr.Walker added. Since the in-

    Please turn to page 17

    By BrodyMullins,Rolfe Winkler

    and Brent Kendall

    MerkelIntercedesinGreekDisputeGerman Chancellor Angela

    Merkel is intervening directlyin a deepening rift betweenGreece and its international

    creditors, a sign of Berlinsgrowing concern that the ac-rimony threatens the unity ofthe eurozone.

    Ms. Merkel and other keyleaders were due to talk withGreek Prime Minister Alexis

    Tsipras on the sidelines of aEuropean Union summit onThursday night. The chancel-lor has also invited Mr. Tsip-ras for face-to-face talks inBerlin on Monday.

    Neither meeting is likelyto resolve the dispute overGreeces financing needs andeconomic policies, Europeanofficials say. But they showthat the Greek crisis is seen inBerlin as enough of a threatto Europes stability for headsof government to get in-volved, these people say. The

    chancellors message for Mr.Tsiprasthat Greece has noalternative to cooperatingwith finance officials de-mandsis likely to disappointthe Greek leaders hope for alenient funding deal.

    That Europes most power-ful leader is trying to asserther authority in the Greekdebt crisis reflects Ms.Merkels mounting worry thatbad blood between Athensand other EU capitals couldlead to Greece tumbling out ofthe euroan outcome that no

    eurozone government wants,because of its unpredictableand potentially ruinous conse-quences.

    So far this year, Ms.Merkel has left the Greekproblem to her finance chiefWolfgang Schuble, while shefocused her foreign-policy en-ergies on trying to stem the

    Please turn to page 4

    ByMarcusWalker inAthens and HarrietTorry in Berlin

    Central Banks ShakeThe Currency World

    Central banks have lit afuse under the foreign-ex-change market.

    Volatility in currency mar-kets has recently rushed up asshifts in policy by major cen-tral banks spark huge bets.The turmoil marks a turn-around from recent years,when ultra-loose monetarypolicy around the world putmarkets into hibernation.

    In the latest episodeWednesday, a message fromthe U.S. Federal Reserve thatit is in no hurry to raise inter-

    est rates caused a slump inthe dollar, which had run up asteep rally this year. The eurosurged more than 4% againstthe buck, its biggest jump in asingle day in 15 years, accord-ing to Deutsche Bank AG. OnThursday, the European cur-rency resumed its slide, fall-ing to $1.0621 by afternoon inNew York, below the level itreached before the Fed an-nouncement.

    The sheer speed of theround trip in the euro-dollar

    Please turn to page 21

    National Front ExpandsBase in French Elections

    GUERBIGNY, FranceEvenbefore votes are counted fromSundays local elections, Ma-rine Le Pens National Fronthas scored a victory: For thefirst time, the once-fringeparty will field candidates innearly every constituencyacross the countrymorethan any other political group.

    The growth underscoresthe partys success in expand-ing its base. Ms. Le Pen hastoned down its far-right rhet-oric, expelled activists for rac-

    ist comments and latched onto public anger toward main-stream parties and the Euro-pean Union, which many vot-ers see as responsible forFrances economic ills.

    The surge is on display inthe Somme district in north-ern France, where elementary-school teacher Yves Dupille isamong thousands nationwidejoining or returning to theanti-immigration, anti-EUparty.

    Mr. Dupille left the Na-tional Front 16 years ago aftera period of infighting, then re-

    joined just over a year agoand became a town councilorin Amiens in March 2014. OnSunday hes targeting the nextrung, seeking to become arepresentative in the widerSomme region, one of thecountrys 101 dpartements.

    During a National Frontmeeting in the town hall ofGuerbigny, Mr. Dupille said hehad seen little chance of theparty gaining power under the

    Please turn to page 3

    BYWILLIAM HOROBIN

    BY TOMMY STUBBINGTONAND CHIARA ALBANESE

    Spains new leftists faceelectoral test................................ 3

    Coca-Cola chief has asolution to lost fizz:More sodaIn Depth ............ 10-11

    Troubled oil: Shale andBrent hit hard timesBusiness ................ 15

    Inside

    Ge t

    t yI m

    a ge s

    $1.75 (C/V) - KES 250 - NAI 375 - 1.70

    Brussels Beat: Athens isshedding sympathizers.......... 2

    Heard: Tensions for Greeklenders........................................... 27

    Riskiest sovereign borrowersrush to sell debt .................... 19

    28 | Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

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    PAGE TWO

    As talks overGreeces bailoutmove closer to thebrink, the 19countries of theeurozone have

    split into two distinct camps:Greece and the other 18.

    It didnt start off quite likethis. The new government ofAlexis Tsipras was greeted warilyby many when it took office inJanuary, given the left-wingleaders bold campaign promisesof writing off the countrys debt.But there were some sympathizerson the left among the leaders ofFrance and Italy, and manyexpected Mr. Tsipras wouldchange tack once he took office.

    That shift hasnt been much inevidence and even the sympathythere was has evaporatedsomewhat. Finance Minister YanisVaroufakis may have lost an allyin Italy when he declared that ittoo risks bankruptcy. Politiciansacross Europe of all politicalstripes are now saying bothpublicly and privately that Greecemust follow the rules if it wantsmore aid.

    Before a meeting of theEurogroup forum of eurozonefinance ministers last month,Austrian Finance Minister HansJrg Schelling declared, In theEurogroup meetings on Greece sofar, there was a very determinedfinance ministers front, 18 to 1,and we stay true to that.

    Peter Ludlow, a Brussels-basedhistorian and commentator on theEuropean Union, says Greecesisolation inside the bloc may beunprecedented.

    This, he and others say, hasseveral explanations.

    Some eurozone governmentsIreland, Portugal, Spain and theBaltic statessee themselves ashaving swallowed tough,politically costly but ultimatelysuccessful medicine and see noreason why Greece should bespared such rigor. Some, likeSlovakia and the Baltic states, arepoorer than Greece and pay theirworkers a lower minimum wage.

    Another element is that furtherdebt relief for Greece in whateverform means losses forgovernmentsAthens owes othereurozone governments 195billion ($212 billion)andtherefore for eurozone taxpayers.Germany is owed the largestsummore than 60 billionfollowed by France and Italy. But,as a percentage of their grossdomestic product, other countrieshave more on the line thanGermany. According to aBloomberg Brief analysis, Greecesdebts to Slovenia exceed 3% ofSlovenian GDP, compared with2.4% for Germany.

    Another issue is political.Making big concessions to aradical political party in Greecethat is seeking to tear up theeurozone rule book would, leadersfear, encourage insurgents in theirown countries and jeopardizetheir careers.

    Then there is the personaldimension: Poor personal

    chemistry between the new Greekgovernments inexperienced andsometimes charismatic politiciansand their battle-scarred oppositenumbers in the rest of theeurozone.

    For most of the latter, the rulesmatter. But it is more than that.Germany, many othergovernments and senior policymakers in Brussels believe theirausterity strategy has been asuccessand was finally workingin Greece last year when itseconomy began growing after sixyears of contraction. Now, theybelieve that success has beenjeopardized by the recklessness ofMr. Tsipras and his colleagues.

    They also believe thatrecklessness has been encouragedby misguided political andeconomic philosophies and badadvice from abroad.

    It isnt so much that many inMr. Tsiprass Syriza party areMarxiststhe eurozone canhandle followers of the bearded19th-century German philosopher.It is more that they are seen to beexcessively influenced by a 20th-century British economistJohnMaynard Keynesand his livingAnglo-Saxon disciples.

    At finance ministers meetingsin Brussels, Mr. Varoufakis hasbeen accompanied by Americaneconomists James Galbraith andJeffrey Sachs. From across theAtlantic, the new government getsstrong rhetorical backing fromPaul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz andothers.

    Thus, the philosophical homeof Mr. Varoufakis, who taught atBritish, Australian and Americanuniversities, is viewed as beingas Mr. Ludlow saysin theAnglosphere. Mr. Varoufakissfirst visit as finance minister was,he points out, to London.

    Varoufakis and his colleaguesand subordinates in the newgovernment turned instinctivelytherefore to the U.K. and the U.S.even before they called on theEuropean Left. So it was thatVaroufakis made London his firstport of call when he set about

    wooing foreign support in thefirst week in February, Mr.Ludlow said in a just-publishedevaluation of last months summit.

    For Mr. Varoufakis, hisgovernment and most Keynesianeconomists, the official eurozoneposition that the austeritymedicine was working would belaughable if it hadnt had such adevastating effect on the Greekeconomy. From their standpoint,Greece has lost a quarter of itsGDP and the eurozone is callingfor more leeches to further bleedthe patient.

    The standoff between the newGreek government and the rest ofthe eurozone is therefore deepand complicated, the result of aclash of personal styles, ofphilosophy and of conflictingnational interests. All 19 eurozonemembers still say they wantGreece to stay in the club. Buttheir differences wont be easilybridged. They may not even bebridgeable.

    In Greek Bailout Talks,Why Its 18 Versus One[ Brussels Beat ]

    BY STEPHEN FIDLER

    i i iBusiness & Finance

    n Despite changing consumertastes, Coca-Cola CEO MuhtarKent is sticking with a strategyto sell more cola. 10

    n Some of the worlds big oilcompanies are starting to giveup on trying to re-create theU.S. shale boom overseas. 15

    n Former Moore Capital Man-agement trader Julian Rifatwas sentenced to 19 months inprison, after sharing insiderstock tips in exchange for cash,a family holiday and a car. 15

    nWith aging North Sea fieldslike Brent running out of crudefaster than predicted, changesto how the global price of oil iscalculated are accelerating. 15

    n Dutch electronics groupPhilips said it plans to spin offits lighting business in a multi-billion-euro initial public offer-ing next year. 16

    n Angry Birds maker RovioEntertainment said operatingprofit fell sharply in 2014. 16

    n Former Banco EspritoSanto CEO Ricardo Salgado dis-missed findings from an auditconducted into the banks col-lapse that pointed the finger athis administration. 18

    n Citigroup, Goldman Sachs,UBS and other large banks facetens of millions of dollars inlosses on loans they made toenergy companies last year. 20

    i i iWorld-Wide

    n Spains upstart leftist partyPodemos is discovering the dif-ficulty of converting discontentwith established parties intosupport at the ballot box. 3

    n Fridays solar eclipse willtest Europes big bet on renew-able energy, as its aging elec-tricity grids could buckle underthe strain of a sudden drop insolar power. 6

    n The eurozone economy isgaining steam and spurringbank demand for new loans,according to reports from theEuropean Central Bank. 6

    n A smaller share of Americasjobless is tapping unemploy-ment benefits than at anypoint in at least four decades. 7

    n Yemeni forces loyal to for-mer President Saleh clashedwith government troops atAdens international airport,resulting in 13 deaths. 8

    n Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu withdrew hispledge to block the creation ofa Palestinian state. 8

    n Islamic State claimed re-sponsibility for the deadly at-tack on a museum in Tunisiaand warned of more bloodshedto come. 9

    n Some of the worlds riskiestgovernment borrowers arerushing to sell bonds amid re-cord low interest rates. 19

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    HEARDON THE STREETEmail: [email protected] FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY WSJ.com/Heard

    GMMayCede toRenault inRussia

    Fatigue is setting in for carmakers in Russia.

    General Motors Co. thisweek decided to close its St.Petersburg plant and stopselling most locally manufac-tured Opel and GM cars.While Russia only accountedfor about 2% of total saleslast year, the countrysgrowth potential meant GMhad pledged a $1 billion in-vestment to increase capacitythere only three years ago.

    Low oil prices combinedwith economic sanctions,higher interest rates and afalling ruble are pummelingthe Russian car industry. In2014, the number of total ve-hicle registrations fell by10.5% and is expected to dropby another 36% this year, ac-cording to IHS.

    But for those with stam-ina, GMS about-face couldleave them with a biggerpiece of the pie when the autosector eventually recovers.

    One potential beneficiarycould be Renault, which hasbeen among the most aggres-sive foreign auto manufactur-ers to grab market share. Ithas a joint venture with Rus-sian auto maker Avtovaz. De-spite losses of 182 million($194 million) from the ven-ture in 2014, Renault has reit-erated plans to increase pro-duction and market share inRussia.

    The hope is that Renaultcan grow through the down-turn. The expected weaknessof the euro against the dollarshould give it an edge in cut-ting prices, compared withU.S. rivals. Its tie-up with alocal partner is another ad-vantage, although it wouldalso make it more difficultand costly for Renault to ex-tricate itself if required.

    The worry is that anyturnaround in Russias carmarket looks increasingly dis-tant. For a sales recovery tobe sustainable, two key thingsneed to happen: Oil pricesmust stabilize and geopoliti-cal sanctions must ease. Nei-ther looks likely.

    If the recovery takes toolong, the infrastructure sup-porting car manufacturersmay begin to deteriorate. GMwas one of the oldest and big-gest investors in the Russianauto industry, and its decisionto cut loose may mean othersincluding car parts suppliersdo the same.

    When Russias auto indus-try eventually emerges fromthe doldrums, there could beopportunities for those whohave stayed the course. But,for now, long-distance drivingin the country is becomingmore arduous. Thao Hua

    Tension for Greek LendersSlowly, the pressure on

    Greece is ramping up oncemore.

    Prime Minister AlexisTsipras held more talks onThursday with French andGerman leaders, EuropeanCentral Bank President MarioDraghi, and Jeroen Dijssel-bloem, leader of a group ofEuropean finance ministers.

    Mr. Tsiprass receptionwas likely frosty after hepushed an antipoverty billthrough the Greek parliamentin defiance of the countrysinternational creditors. Butwhile he may feel politicallyemboldened by antiausteritydemonstrations in Frankfurt,financial conditions at homeare deteriorating.

    Greek government bondsare suffering a renewed crisisof investor faith. The yield onthe Greek 2017 bond hasrisen above 22%, according toTradeweb, and the yieldcurve is sharply invertedaclassic sign of distress.

    The share prices of Greekbanks are at or near the low-est levels seen since the cri-sis began in 2009. Depositshave continued to flow outwith reports of a mini-run onWednesday after Mr. Dijssel-bloem said capital controlsmay be needed.

    At the end of January,Greek retail and business de-posits were already belowtheir previous nadir in the

    summer of 2012.Up to another 10 billion

    ($10.86 billion), or 6.5%, isreported to have gone sincethen.

    The ECBs governingcouncil on Wednesdaygranted a tiny increase, of

    just 400 million, to theemergency funding that thecountrys banks use to re-place fleeing deposits.

    Greek banks are alreadyaccessing close to the maxi-mum 70 billion in emer-

    gency funding permitted, al-though they also still havesome ordinary ECB fundingusing bonds issued by theEuropean Financial StabilityFacility. In all, Greek banksreliance on ECB moneyroughly doubled over Decem-

    ber and January to 85 bil-lion.

    Senior ECB officials arecomfortable that Greek bankshave enough collateral to ac-cess as much emergencyfunding as the 120 billion

    they took in 2012. Banks mayhave 60 billion worth of us-able collateral left for emer-gency funding, if the limitsare raised.

    Indeed, about half thefunding banks lost in Decem-ber and January was 20 bil-lion provided by other banksand repo markets, ratherthan deposits. That institu-tional retreat also ought tofree up some collateral.

    But the cushion forGreeces banks is limited.Capital controls may be thebest way to guard against di-sastrous funding flight, butunilaterally imposed thosecould prompt the countrysexit from the eurozone. Timeisnt on anyones side.

    Paul J. Davies

    Tencent Likes Facebooks SuccessTencent Holdings is

    sometimes called the Face-book of China. Now, the Chi-nese Internet company is ex-plicitly copying Facebooksadvertising strategy.

    Among investors, Tencentarouses excitement mainlybecause of WeChat, or Weixinin Chinese, its hugely popularmobile messaging app. Untilnow, Tencents main strategyfor making money on WeChathas been to use it as a plat-form to distribute mobilegames.

    This approach seems to behitting some limits. After all,not everyone plays smart-phone games, and even fewerpeople pay real money forvirtual items within thosegames. Developers also needto crank out new games tokeep users interested.

    Mobile-game revenuefrom WeChat and its compan-ion platform QQ Mobile ap-peared to surge ahead in thefourth quarter, but only be-cause of a change in Ten-cents accounting methods.On a like-for-like basis, mo-bile-game revenue related tothe two chat apps came to 2.9billion yuan ($465.5 million)in the December quarter.That is up from 2.6 billionyuan in the previous quarter,when a technical snafu hit

    sales, but down slightly fromthree billion yuan in the Junequarter.

    WeChat often is comparedwith Facebooks WhatsApp, apure chat tool. But WeChatalso has Facebook-like social-networking features. SinceJanuary, Tencent has beenexperimenting with placingads in its moments feed,which is similar to Facebookstimeline, where users shareupdates, news and photoswith friends.

    The potential opportunityis big and could more thanmake up for any slowdown ingames. Facebook raked in$11.5 billion of advertising

    revenue last year, on a world-wide base of 1.39 billionmonthly active users. WeChathas 500 million monthly ac-tive users.

    Facebooks revenue grewquickly once it unleashedtimeline ads, and Tencent hasthe advantage of being ableto learn from Facebooks ex-perience to guide it. But in-vestors shouldnt expectquick results. For one thing,while Facebooks timeline isits primary feature that usersare obsessed with, WeChatsmoments page is secondaryto its function as a chat app.

    And as Tencent PresidentMartin Lau noted at a newsbriefing on Wednesday, thesocial-media ad space is lesswell-developed in China thanin the U.S. Tencent will haveto shepherd the industry ina positive direction, he said.Analysts at Nomura figurethat advertising on WeChatsmoments page will remainlargely experimental thisyear, and gradually ramp upin 2016.

    Enthusiasm over the po-tential for ads on WeChat hasgiven a boost to Tencentshares, which are up 23% sofar this year. But the payoffcould take time. Investorsshouldnt get carried awayjust yet. Aaron Back

    WeChat

    Collecting FriendsTotal monthly active users

    THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.Sources: the companies

    1.5 billion

    0.0

    0.5

    1.0

    20142013

    Facebook

    Coupon clippingthe sta-ple activity of the traditional,cautious bond investorisrapidly becoming pass inEurope.

    Take returns on Germangovernment bonds, the ha-ven market for eurozone in-vestors. From 2001 through2007, German bonds re-turned a total of 37.1%, ac-cording to Barclays indexdata. Returns due to pricemovements were just 0.6%;reinvested coupon paymentsreturned 36.5%. Coupon clip-ping was everything.

    My, how that haschanged: Since 2008, pricereturns have vaulted to24.2%, while coupons havegenerated 31.4%, for a totalreturn of 55.6%. The reallure of bonds postcrisis hasbeen capital gains, not cou-pons. And indeed, the re-turn from coupons has fallensteadily over time. But re-cently, the skew to price re-turns has become extreme:Of last years 10.3% returnon German bonds, 75% camefrom price gains, accordingto Barclays.

    So far this year, a whop-ping 86% of the 3.5% totalreturn recorded has comefrom higher prices.

    But what goes up cancome down. With couponsproviding little cushion, a se-rious selloff in bonds is likelyto prove painful.

    OVERHEARD

    Oil Doesnt HaveA Friend in Fed

    The Federal Reserves art-ful dodge on raising ratesgave oil prices a boostWednesday afternoon. Its realfavor to oil investors, though,was demonstrating how littlesupport low rates really offer:Prices slumped again Thurs-day morning.

    Indeed, lower interestrates are a hindrance to a re-covery in oil prices. Thatmight sound counterintuitive.After all, lower U.S. interestrates tend to weaken the dol-lar, support emerging mar-kets, and tempt investors intoriskier assets, all of whichnormally supports oil.

    But something haschanged that relationship:shale. Rising U.S. oil supply isthe big factor weighing onprices. And that supply islargely a function of explora-tion-and-production compa-nies enjoying access to capitalto fund drilling budgets thatfrequently outpace cash flow.

    Witness the rush by sev-eral E&P firms to issueshares, especially during thebrief rally in oil prices duringFebruary. So far this year, thesector has accounted for al-

    most 12% of U.S. equity issu-ance, the highest proportionin at least two decades, ac-cording to Dealogic. Even onthe debt side, E&P issuance todate is running at the samepace as the past five years.

    As long as oil investors aretransfixed by low ratesrather than rapidly buildinginventoriesthey will delaythe slowdown in supply thatneeds to happen to balancethe market and sustain a realrally. Besides buying sharesand bonds, total assets in oilexchange-traded funds hadmore than doubled by mid-March compared with thestart of the year, according toCitigroup. By bidding up oilfutures, that money also helpsE&P firms lock in higherhedges to sustain production.

    It also is worth consider-ing why the Fed is signaling adelay. It worries about astrengthening dollar, which inpart reflects relative weak-ness in other major econo-mies. Lower rates dont justhinder a supply responsethey arent a vote of confi-dence for oil demand, either.

    Liam Denning

    Greek government bonds are suffering arenewed crisis of faith from investors.

    Blockupy suporters marched inFrankfurt, Germany, Wednesday.

    Withdrawal SymptomsGreek bank funding

    Sources: Bank of Greece; Getty Images (photo) THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

    250

    0

    50

    100

    150

    200

    billion

    12 13 14 152011

    Domesticretail andbusinessdeposits

    Inter-bankand moneymarketfunds

  • THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 | 3

    Spains New Leftists Face Electoral TestJEREZ DE LA FRONTERA,

    SpainThe upstart leftist party Po-demos has risen like a comet inopinion polls to challenge the two-party system that has dominatedSpanish politics since the 1980s.

    But here in the southern Andalu-sia region, the site of a closelywatched election Sunday, Podemosleaders are discovering the difficultyof converting discontent with estab-lished parties into votes.

    Jos Ignacio Garca, a 27-year oldpsychologist who is running on thePodemos slate, says it is hard win-ning votes in rural areas where farmsubsidies and scarce jobs are con-trolled by political bosses alignedwith the Socialist Party, which hasgoverned Andalusia for decades.

    Mr. Garca says that many Po-demos supporters in such areas areasking the party to send out ballotsbefore election day. That way, sym-pathetic voters can put the ballots inthe envelope at home rather than atthe polling station, reducing the riskthat someone will find out theybroke ranks with the Socialists. ASocialist spokesman says the partydoesnt spy on voters at polls.

    Mr. Garcias story helps explainwhy the Socialist Party and the cen-ter-right Popular Party, which gov-erns at a national level, seem to behanging on in a regional electionthat will serve as a litmus test of re-cent shifts in Spanish politics, aswell as a possible preview of na-tional elections later this year.

    For Podemos, the vote will be itsfirst domestic electoral test, afterfinishing fourth in its first raceforthe European Parliamentalmost ayear ago.

    An opinion poll released lastweek by Spains largest radio net-work, Cadena Ser, showed the So-cialists are likely to secure 42 seats

    in the 109-seat Andalusian parlia-ment, enough to form a minoritygovernment, and not much below itscurrent 47 seats. It currently gov-erns with the small United Left.

    The Popular Party would comesecond, with 26 seats, with Podemosthird with 24 seats, the poll found.

    Ciudadanos, another fast-risingparty seen as socially liberal andconservative in economic policy,came in fourth in the poll with nineseats. It is running for the first timeoutside its base in Catalonia.

    The election will likely result in aminority Socialist government with-out a stable partner in a highly frag-mented parliament, says AlbertoGarzn, the local leader of theUnited Left bloc, which is expectedto come in fifth place. That may be a

    harbinger of things to come at thenational level, where recent pollingsuggests that a clear winner wontemerge then either.

    Both the Socialists and the Popu-lar Party have been battered by dis-content with Spains 24% unemploy-ment rate, as well as corruptionscandals that have rocked the politi-cal and economic elite.

    But in Andalusia, Spains mostpopulous region with eight millioninhabitants and one of its poorest,the Socialists are benefiting fromtheir strong political machine,headed by union leaders and farmforemen who dole out temporaryjobs on huge private haciendas.

    In addition, the Socialists madewhat now looks like a savvy move tocall elections a year ahead of the

    end of term for the current regionalparliament, says Jordi Rodrguez-Virgili, a political scientist at theUniversity of Navarre.

    That robbed Podemos and Ciuda-danos of the time they needed to es-tablish strong grass roots organiza-tions here, he said. If they cansecure a win in Andalusia, as itseems likely, then the Socialists willbe able to say they beat Podemosand they are turning the tide, Mr.Rodrguez-Virgili said.

    Still, polls indicate that a signifi-cant number of voters remain unde-cided.

    In Jerez, a city of just over200,000 surrounded by haciendas,Podemos is making some convertsamong disaffected former Socialistsupporters like Jos Nez, a 58-

    year old carpenter.Im tired of the same old people

    making the same old promises andthe same old mistakes, Mr. Nuezsaid. He says he now associates So-cialists with a long-running legalcase in Andalusia involving the al-leged embezzlement of more than 1billion ($1.1 billion) in public funds,many of them subsidies for trainingthe unemployed. An Andalusianjudge has named about 200 sus-pects, most of them Socialists. Nonehave been formally charged.

    But the Socialists have tried toblunt the damage by running a rela-tive newcomer at the top of theirticket, 40-year-old Susana Diaz, whois seen as untainted by the scandals.

    National political leaders havebeen flocking to Andalusia, reflect-ing its strategic importance.

    At a recent campaign stop in Je-rez, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoygave a speech emphasizing thesteady, albeit slow, decline in the un-employment rate.

    Pablo Iglesias, the ponytail-wear-ing leader of Podemos, gave aspeech last week aimed at older vot-ers, many of whom have foundthemselves having to support unem-ployed offspring. He said Podemosneeded the votes of grandfathersand grandmothers who have brokentheir backs so their grandchildrendont have to emigrate.

    Adding to Podemoss electoralproblems, Mr. Iglesias has become acontroversial figure because of tiesthat he and other Podemos leadershave with Venezuelas populist gov-ernment.

    Last week, Mr. Iglesias and threeother Podemos members in the Eu-ropean Parliament voted against aresolution, passed by a large major-ity, calling for the release of theVenezuelan opposition members. Mr.Iglesias said the resolution was ex-tremist and ideological.

    BY DAVID ROMN

    The leader of the antiausterity party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, at a rally in Malaga last week for the Andalusia election.

    Ag e

    n ce

    F ra n

    c e- P

    r es s

    e /G

    e tt y

    I ma g

    e s

    National Front leader Marine Le Pen in Marseille on Wednesday.

    Z um

    aP r

    e ss

    French Vote Shows Growing Support for National Frontleadership of Ms. Le Pens father,Jean Marie Le Pen. But the transfor-mation under the daughter con-vinced him that is now possible.

    Marine Le Pen has changed howpeople see the National Front, Mr.Dupille said. We have never gov-ernedit is time we had ourchance.

    Nationwide, the party is runningin 1,909 of 2,054 constituencies.That requires mobilizing over 7,500party activists, as each ticket musthave a male-female pairing and twodeputies.

    Turnout at the elections for suchassembly elections is typically low,but the candidates provide a snap-shot of the support base of the dif-ferent national parties.

    Among the National Fronts can-didates in the Somme alone are re-tirees, students, blue- and white-col-lar workers, civil servants, anengineer, a lawyer and a former So-cialist party activist.

    The rise of the National Front isalready upsetting the political bal-ance in France. The ruling Socialistsof President Franois Hollande arelumbered with a poor record of highunemployment and hobbled by asplit over economic policy. The cen-ter-right UMP, headed by formerPresident Nicolas Sarkozy, is re-branding itself after a disappointingshowing in EU elections last year.

    While many of the National Frontcandidates will get knocked out by

    Continued from first page alliances between other parties in asecond round March 27, the party isstill expected to make gains.

    An March 11-13 Ipsos survey of1,473 people showed the NationalFront would take 30% of the first-round vote Sunday, followed by theUMP and centrists with 29% and theSocialist Party with 19%.

    That is similar to polls before EUelections last May in which the Na-tional Front took the biggest share.

    That could give the NationalFront a say in a wide range of poli-cies from building schools and main-taining roads, to paying unemploy-ment and disability benefits. Suchinfluence will be crucial in buildingmomentum ahead of legislative and

    presidential elections in 2017.The National Front will be able

    to create a network of people rootedat a local level and demonstrategreater influence in the life of thenation, said Jean-Daniel Lvy, a po-litical analyst at polling companyHarris Interactive.

    That would strengthen Ms. LePens claim that she now headsFrances leading political party.

    Prime Minister Manuel Valls hassaid that a big win for the NationalFront would be extremely seriousfor France and its international im-age. Im scared for my country. Imscared it will be shattered by the Na-tional Front,Mr. Valls said in a tele-vision interview this month.

    Analysis of data provided by theInterior Ministry suggests Ms. LePens party is broadening its appeal.Nearly 19% of National Front candi-dates describe themselves as work-ers in the private sector and morethan 5% are civil servants. Therealso are 14 doctors and as many law-yers on the National Front ticket.

    The party also has a strong youthfollowing. More than 15% of candi-dates are 30 or under, a figure thatfalls to 4.8% for the Socialist Partyand 5.3% for the UMP. The youngestcandidate running in the elec-tions18-year-old Nomie Cl-mentis on the National Frontticket. The party is also fielding theoldest, 91-year-old Franoise Sipire.

    At the meeting in Guerbigny, 22-year-old Eric Richermoz, who joinedthe National Front two years agoand is running for the first time,said Frances youth have given up onother parties.

    Youth are the first to be hit bydecades of globalization and Euro-pean federalization, which have cre-ated mass unemployment, he said.

    The party has also succeeded inrecruiting among professions typi-cally loyal to far-left and Communistparties: More than half of the 255candidates describing themselves asblue-collar are running on the Na-tional Front ticket.

    Working class people dont voteSocialist anymore, said Mr. Dupille.

    EUROPE NEWS

    Rise of the RightNumber of constituencies where parties are elding candidates

    THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.Source: French Interior Ministry

    Total Number of Constituencies

    National Front

    Socialists and Union of the Left

    Center Right UMP and Union of the Right

    Communist and other leftist groups

    Greens

    2,054

    1,909

    1,592

    1,606

    1,211

    387

    26 | Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

    OFF THE WALL

    PowerPoint Karaoke Brings Stress Relief

    On a sunny Friday afternoonearlier this month, about 100employees of Adobe Sys-tems Inc. filed expectantly into anauditorium to watch PowerPointpresentations.

    I am really thrilled to be heretoday, began Kimberley Chambers,a 37-year-old communications man-ager for the software company, asshe nervously clutched a micro-phone. I want to talk youthroughmy experience withwhales, in both my personal andprofessional life.

    Co-workers giggled. Ms. Cham-bers glanced behind her, where aPowerPoint slide displayed four inksketches of bare-chested male tor-sos, each with a distinct pattern ofchest hair. The giggles became guf-faws. What you might not know,she continued, is that whales canbe uniquely identified by a numberof different characteristics, not theleast of which is body hair.

    Ms. Chambers, sporting a blackblazer and her employee ID badge,hadnt seen this slide in advance,nor the five others that popped upas she clicked her remote control.To accompany the slides, she gave anine-minute impromptu talk aboutwhales, a topic she was handed 30seconds earlier.

    Forums like this at Adobe,called PowerPoint karaoke orbattle decks, are cropping up asa way for office workers of theworld to mock an oppressor, the

    ubiquitous PowerPoint presenta-tion. The mix of improvised com-edy and corporate-culture take-down is based on a simple notion:Many PowerPoint presentationsare unintentional parody already,so why not go all the way?

    Library associations in Texasand California held PowerPoint ka-raoke sessions at their annual con-ferences. At a Wal-Mart Stores Inc.event last year, workers gave faketalks based on real slides from ameatpacking supplier. Twitter Inc.Chief Executive Dick Costolo,

    armed with his training from com-edy troupe Second City, has facedoff with employees at battledecks contests during companymeetings.

    One veteran corporate satiristgives these events a thumbs up.Riffing off of PowerPoints withoutknowing what your next slide is go-ing to be? The humorist in me saysits kinda brilliant, said Dilbertcartoonist Scott Adams, who hasspent 26 years training his jaun-diced eye on office work. I assumethis game requires drinking? he

    asked. (Drinking is technically notrequired, but it is common.)

    Mr. Adams, who worked foryears at a bank and at a telephonecompany, said PowerPoint is popu-lar because it offers a rare dose ofautonomy in cubicle culture. But itoften bores, because creators losesight of their mission. If you justlook at a page and drag thingsaround and play with fonts, youthink youre a genius and youre infull control of your world, he said.

    At a February PowerPoint kara-oke show in San Francisco, contes-tants were given pairings of topicsand slides ranging from a self-helpseminar for people who abuse Am-azon Prime, with slides including adog balancing a stack of pancakeson its nose, to a sermon on FiftyShades of Grey, with slides in-cluding a pyramid dotted withblocks of numbers.Another had to ex-plain the dating appTinder to aliens in-vading the Earth, ac-companied by a slideof old floppy diskdrives, among otherthings.

    Other events havefeatured slides ofclowns, CPR training,Mr. Rogers and a catin space.

    During intentionallycomedic competitions,many laugh lines landwith a thud, just like real Power-Point presentations. But the com-edy is a draw because PowerPointconventions are so familiar, and soeasily parodied.

    The world does not reallyneed more PowerPoint. Unfortu-nately, a lot of people dont seemto have gotten that yet, said Rob-ert Hamilton, a 43-year-old tech-nology executive in San Francisco.

    Last fall, Mr. Hamilton waspulled from the audience at an im-prov show to take a stab at theformat. Based on a suggestionfrom the crowd, Mr. Hamilton wastasked with giving an inspirationalspeech to villains from JamesBond movies. His big momentcame when the second slidepopped up behind him, showing anelephant sitting on an elephant-sized toilet.

    Thinking fast, Mr. Hamilton ex-horted his imagined audience ofmaster criminals to defecate onthe world in high style. The audi-ence roared.

    PowerPoint software was intro-

    duced in 1987 by a company calledForethought, and gave mere mor-tals a way to present informationwith bullet points and profes-sional-looking charts. MicrosoftCorp. purchased Forethought thesame year, and brought Power-Point to the masses as part of itsOffice software bundle.

    A generation later, PowerPointhas become a cultural touchstone.David Byrne, the Talking Headsmusician, has created art installa-tions and a thick coffee-table bookfeaturing PowerPoint slides withgarish colored arrows curlingacross a screen. Filmmaker Jere-miah Lee has made short actionfilms entirely of PowerPoint slides.

    Microsoft appreciates all theattention on its software. It neverceases to amaze us to see the cre-ative, fun and unique ways peopleuse Office tools like PowerPoint, aspokesman said.

    Ubiquity has a downside: Whenformer National Security Agencycontractor Edward Snowdenleaked information about theagencys digital-surveillance pro-grams, commenters panned theagencys slidework. An architec-ture and design columnist for theGuardian newspaper said theNSAs PowerPoints looked like thework of a drunken toddler, high onthe potentials of AutoShapes andWordArt.

    An NSA spokeswoman didntrespond to a request for comment.

    Inspiring improvised humorfrom the speech-and-slide formattraces back to Zentrale IntelligenzAgentur, a Berlin artists collectivethat about 10 years ago startedhosting PowerPoint karaoke showsas performance art.

    Sammy Wegent, a 35-year-oldvideogame designer, saw addi-tional potential. A couple of yearsago, the former comedian tried

    PowerPoint karaokeat a team-buildingworkshop at ZyngaInc., the San Fran-cisco videogame com-pany where he works.He found it a perfectprop for workplaceimprov, because theslides give people awelcome crutcharound which to con-struct a narrative.

    Now, he balanceshis day job with a businesscalled Speechless, whichhosts PowerPoint improv

    events like the one at Adobe. Theidea is to ease the tension of apressure-packed business momentby making it silly.

    For Ms. Chambers, the fakePowerPoint was more tension-filled than the real thing. Thiswas scarier than swimming withsharks, said the New Zealand na-tive, a decorated open-sea swim-mer who routinely encounterssharks.

    Her performance won her aspot representing Adobe scheduledThursday in a tech-industrySpeechless tournament, competingwith employees of Google Inc.,Airbnb Inc. and Zynga.

    Mr. Wegent says the winnerwill be the unofficial funniestperson in Silicon Valley.

    Im not quite sure thats a com-pliment, she said.

    BY SHIRA OVIDESan Francisco

    Online>>See more photos of contestantsdoing PowerPoint karaoke atWSJ.com/OffTheWall.

    In PowerPoint karaoke, presenters must give an impromptu speech to accompany slides they have never seen before.

    Da v

    i dA

    l l en

    A PowerPointremote control

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  • 4 | Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

    EUROPE NEWS

    Merkel Moves to InterveneIn Greek RiftWith CreditorsRussian-backed separatist war inUkraine. But Mr. Schuble and othereurozone finance officials are strug-gling to collaborate with their Greekcounterparts amid rising animosityand mutual mistrust.

    President Barack Obama andother world leaders have lobbiedBerlin to lead the search for a com-promise on Greece, expressing con-cern that Greek bankruptcy and anexit from the euro could divide anddestabilize the EU just as Europespost-Cold War order faces a seriouschallenge from Russia.

    Im very aware that the world iswatching us, how we in the euro-zone deal with problems and crisesin individual members states, Ms.Merkel told Germanys lower houseof parliament, the Bundestag, onThursday. Restating her mantrasince the eurozone debt crisiserupted in 2010, she said: If theeuro fails, then Europe failstheeuro is far more than a currency.

    She is expected to press Mr.Tsipras at their Brussels and Berlinencounters to accept that Greecesonly hope of securing the financingit needs to avoid default is to coop-erate with eurozone finance minis-ters and technocrats from the EUand the International MonetaryFund. Arriving in Brussels on Thurs-day, she played down the chances ofan imminent deal, telling reporters:Dont expect a breakthrough.

    The latest Greek crisis is rapidlyboiling down to whether a compro-mise is possible between the twokey protagonists, European officialsand analysts say: Ms. Merkel andMr. Tsipras.

    Ms. Merkel continues to see aGreek euro exit as deeply undesir-able, people familiar with her think-ing say. It would render the euro-zone chronically fragile by provingthat membership isnt permanent,inviting future financial speculationagainst other struggling members.It could also turn Greece into aloose cannon within the EU andNATO, complicating the Wests ef-forts to deal with geopolitical chal-lenges, from Russia to the MiddleEast, these people say.

    But Ms. Merkel also believes shecan only sell rescue loans for Greeceto skeptical German lawmakers and

    Continued from first page voters if Athens, in return, shakesup its economy to become more via-ble inside the euro.

    Mr. Tsipras, however, would havegreat difficulty getting his party toswallow the kind of economic poli-cies that creditors want. Trying topass laws that meet the IMFs de-mands for further labor-market de-regulation, pension cuts or privati-zations would probably split hisleftist Syriza party, insiders say.

    The young Greek premier is in-stead pinning his hopes on persuad-ing Ms. Merkel that she has to makea fundamentally political choice:Does she want to keep Europe intactor not? If so, then she must grantGreece a financial lifeline togetherwith looser budget reins and an endto IMF-style measures, he has ar-gued.

    Since his accession to power, Mr.Tsipras has tried to take the disputeto the highest political level, by-passing the Eurogroupthe forumof eurozone finance ministerswhere Greece is under pressure toprovide specifics on its parlous fi-nances and economic policy plans.

    Some other EU leaders are wor-ried that, by engaging Mr. Tsiprasdirectly, Ms. Merkel may encourageAthens to believe it doesnt have tocooperate with the Eurogroup or theIMF.

    Ms. Merkel was careful to insiston Thursday that her talks with theGreek leader arent a substitute forcooperation at the technocraticlevel.

    Greece is struggling to scrape to-gether enough cash to service itsdebts to the IMF and other creditorsin coming weeks. The country needsbillions of euros in rescue loans tomeet heavy bond repayments owedto the European Central Bank inJuly and August. Failure to repaythose debts would lead the ECB tocut off funding for Greeces banks,forcing the country to surrender tocreditors demands or return to a

    national currency, the drachma.Under Greeces bailout program,

    the eurozone and IMF has doled outcheap loans since 2010 in return foreconomic overhauls in Greece. Butthe tough medicineincluding cu-mulative austerity measures thatrepresent around 30% of Greecesannual economic output, accordingto EU figureshave contributed tothe Greek economy shrinking by aquarter, leaving unemployment ataround 26%. Most Greeks dont be-lieve the creditors medicine hasmade their economy healthier, asGerman officials insist.

    Instead, exhausted Greekselected Syriza to end the hated mea-sures and the countrys strict super-vision by EU and IMF technocrats,which the public widely views ashumiliating. The problem for Syrizaand its leader Mr. Tsipras, however,is that Greece still needs EU-IMF fi-nancing to avoid a debt default.

    A truce reached on Feb. 20when Athens and its creditorsagreed to continue the bailout andnegotiate mutually acceptable eco-nomic policies for Greece, unlockingfurther financinghas frayed badlyin recent weeks.

    Eurozone officials this week ac-cused Greece of refusing to share fi-nancial information or draw up con-vincing economic overhauls.Greeces government charges itscreditors with trying to meddle un-acceptably in its affairs, includingby trying to halt legislation passedby the Parliament in Athens onThursday to give free electricity andfood coupons to poor Greeks.

    We are waiting for proposals[from the creditors] on how Greececan turn towards growth; we ha-vent heard any of those up to now,a senior Greek government officialsaid ahead of Thursdays EU sum-mit.

    Syrizas often-confrontationaltone has alienated much of Europefrom Greeces demands for more le-nient treatment, reducing the sym-pathy of many voters and policymakers for the economic hardshipmany Greeks have suffered since2010. Opinion polls suggest a major-ity of German voters now supportGreek exit from the eurosome-thing a large majority of Greeks stillreject.

    The German chancellor with Belgian Premier Charles Michel, left, and Frances Franois Hollande, right, on Thursday.

    European

    Presspho

    toAgency

    EU Set to Reach DealTo Keep Russia Sanctions

    BRUSSELSEuropean Unionleaders were set to reach an agree-ment that would pave the way forthe blocs broad economic sanctionson Russia to stay in place untilyears end.

    The 28 EU leaders, gathered fora summit in Brussels on Thursday,planned to issue a statement thatwould explicitly tie the sanctions toUkraines regaining control of itsborders by Dec. 31, as agreed in arecent cease-fire deal reached inMinsk, Belarus.

    EU members now plan to delayuntil June any action formally ex-tending the sanctions. But by tyingthe sanctions to the Minsk borderprovision and its year-end deadline,the leaders would be making it moreunlikely the sanctions would berolled back before then.

    One of the best ways of sup-porting Ukraine will be through up-holding the sanctions pressure onRussia until we reach a full imple-mentation of the Minsk agreement,said Donald Tusk, president of theEuropean Council, which consists ofthe 28 EU leaders. This must ulti-mately include Ukraine regainingcontrol of its borders.

    The decision could provide EUcountries some flexibility to easesanctions if Russia takes concilia-tory action before years end. Theagreement is a compromise betweenEuropean governments that wantedto officially ex-tend the sanc-tions on Thurs-day and thosethat said doingso would be pro-vocative, giventhat the fragileMinsk cease-fireis showing signsof taking hold.

    U k r a i n i a nPrime MinisterArseniy Yatse-nyuk, worriedthat some Euro-pean leadersmight push toweaken thesanctions nowthat the cease-fire is showingresults, was inBrussels to urgethe EU to resist that temptation andkeep its united front against RussianPresident Vladimir Putin.

    If Putin splits the unity amongEU member states and among theleaders of the EU member countries,this will be the biggest success storyof President Putin and this will be adisaster for the free world, Mr.Yatsenyuk said.

    The halting success of the cease-fire has underlined the fissuresamong EU countries. The U.K. andBaltic states have taken a tougherline toward Russia, for example.Leaders of Cyprus, Italy and Greece,in contrast, have recently visitedMoscow or announced plans to doso. Other governments, such as Hun-garys, have long made little secretof their skepticism toward sanc-tions. Unfortunately we are lookingat permanent conflicts, FinnishPrime Minister Alexander Stubbsaid. And it looks like some peopledont even want to solve them.

    Those divisions were on displayagain at Thursdays summit. Esto-nian Prime Minister Taavi Roivassaid that if it were up to him, thesanctions would be extended imme-diately.

    The best way would be to de-cide already today to roll over thesanctions, Mr. Roivas said. In anycase, I think the least we can do to-day is establish a clear linkage thatas long as the full implementationof Minsk is not in place, the fullrange of sanctions has to continue.

    Werner Faymann, chancellor ofAustria, whose country has beenamong the most skeptical of sanc-tions, stressed instead the need tore-establish a normal relationshipwith Moscow as soon as that makessense. What is important is to setout how we normalize it again, oncethe Minsk agreement has been im-plemented, Mr. Faymann said.

    Mr. Yatsenyuk asked the Euro-pean leaders to send peacekeepersto eastern Ukraine to make sureRussia abides by the Minsk agree-ment. We expect that our Europeanfriends will support this idea, be-cause everyone wants to get peacein Europe and one of the tools toreach this peace is to deploy peace-keepers, Mr. Yatsenyuk said.

    But EU diplomats said such amove would be premature, and thatfor now the EU will focus on sup-porting the personnel who are mon-itoring eastern Ukraine on behalf ofthe Organization for Security andCooperation in Europe. The OSCE isa larger, 57-member group that in-cludes EU members as well as Rus-sia, Ukraine and the U.S.

    The EU has already extendedsanctions through Sept. 15 on indi-

    viduals and firmsinvolved in Rus-sias annexationof Crimea. Thesanctions underd i s c u s s i o nThursday are theblocs broader,tougher mea-sures, includingrestrictions onRussias banking,energy and de-fense sectors.Currently thosepenalties are setto expire in July.

    The Minskcease-fire dealcalled on bothsides to with-draw soldiersand heavy equip-ment from the

    front lines. But the provision givingUkraine control of its border is con-sidered crucial by Western leaders,who accuse Russia of sending aflood of fighters and weapons overthe boundary line. Moscow has de-nied assisting the rebels.

    Vladimir Chizhov, Russias am-bassador to the EU, repeated thisweek in an interview with JapansMainichi news organization that thesanctions, similar to those imposedby the U.S., are illegal and ineffec-tive. The result has been lost jobs,stunted economic growth and for-feited business opportunities inboth Russia and EU countries, Mr.Chizhov said, according to a tran-script from the Russian embassy.Time will tell which side has in-curred larger economic damage.

    Ultimately, European and Ukrai-nian officials worry that Russiasgoal is to establish control, throughperennially restless separatists, of aswath of eastern Ukraine, whichwould give Moscow significant in-fluence over Ukraine itself. Similarfrozen conflicts already extendRussias influence into countriessuch as Georgia, Moldova and Azer-baijan.

    BY NAFTALI BENDAVID

    AgenceFran

    ce-Presse/Getty

    Images

    Mr. Yatsenyuk in Brussels this week.

    Im very aware that theworld is watching us, Ms.Merkel said Thursday.

    THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 | 25

    SPORTS

    Ireland batsman Ed Joyce plays a hook shot to leg during his sides victory against the West Indies at Saxton Park Oval in Nelson, New Zealand, on Feb. 16.

    AgenceFran

    ce-Presse/Getty

    Images

    World Cup Final Will Be7 Days Before Christmas

    Four years after awarding host-ing rights for the 2022 World Cupto Qatar, soccers world governingbody took the unprecedented stepof shifting the tournament to theend of the year, with the final to beplayed on Dec. 18. The World Cupwill also be a shorter-than-usual 28days, putting theexpected start on Nov. 21.

    FIFA confirmed the decision inZurich on Thursday. The questionhad hung over the organizationsince 2010. But in recent weeks, itwas only a matter of nailing downthe date. As it happens, Dec. 18 isQatars national day.

    For us its a major step, be-cause finally we know and we canmove forward, FIFA director ofcommunications Walter de Gregoriosaid. At least we know that the fi-nal will not be the 23rd [of Decem-ber], so time to make Christmasshopping and time to go home.

    Though Qatar won the hostingrights with promises of stadium-cooling technology to make condi-tions in the Middle East playable inthe summer, the shift in seasonhas been expected for a year.

    The biggest opposition early oncame from the major Europeanleagues, home to the top players inthe world, which would have to in-terrupt their season for up toseven weeks to accommodate thetournament.

    For some, such as Germany andSpain, that would extend an al-ready-existing two- or three-weekwinter break. There, a November-December World Cup is viewed asthe most palatable solution.

    But for the English PremierLeague, the consequences are fargreater. Instead of pausing for theholidays, English soccer traditionallypacks in more games throughoutDecember.

    Joshua Robinson

    France to Host WomensWorld Cup in 2019

    The 2019 Womens World Cupwill take place in France, FIFA an-nounced on Thursday. Four yearsafter this summers tournament inCanada, it will be the third time theWorld Cup is held in Europeafter Sweden and Germany.

    Though England, New Zealand,and South Africa expressed interestin hosting it, only South Korea re-mained in contention until Thurs-day. The unanimous decision wasmade without a vote by FIFAs Ex-ecutive Committee, a spokesmansaid. The opening match and finalwill be at Lyons Stade desLumires, which is under construc-tion ahead of the 2016 mens Euro-pean Championships. JR

    Reuters

    FIFA chief Sepp Blatter announcesFrances selection on Thursday.

    HEARD ONTHE PITCH

    Apart fromsupporters of theteams in question,probably the onlypeople who mightbe pleased that

    eight of the nine top-ranked teamsqualified for the quarter-finals ofthe 2015 World Cup are the seniormandarins of the InternationalCricket Council. On the face of it,it appears to justify the governingbodys plan to reduce the 2019World Cup from the current 14teams to 10. But, for severalreasons, that simply isnt the case.

    With a competition such as theWorld Cricket League, whichprovides a well-organized route forthe non-Test-playing associatenations to rise up through therankings, the ICC has shown that itcan provide imaginative ways forthose smaller nations to progress.But that doesnt mean much if thatprogression doesnt headanywhereif the best-performingteams arent rewarded with achance on the biggest stage.

    At 43 days, the 2015 World Cupis certainly too longbut the 2019event is scheduled to last threedays longer, so one reason forcutting down the number of teamsdoesnt apply. Instead, thereduction is designed to guaranteethat all of the games will bebetween the so-called majornations, supposedly ensuring thatevery game is evenly contestedand, of course, delivering high TV-viewing figures.

    But a lot of the most absorbinggames in this tournament haveinvolved associate nations,including Irelands win over theWest Indies on Feb. 16;Zimbabwes and Irelands nerve-jangling run chases to beat theunexpectedly high-scoring United

    Arab Emirates on Feb. 19 and 25respectively; Afghanistan runningSri Lanka close on Feb. 22;Afghanistan and Scotlandsdramatic showdown on Feb. 26,won by the former with three ballsto spare; and Bangladeshs squeakychase against Scotland on March 5.

    The associate nations haveproved with their performances atthis event, as they consistentlyhave at previous ones, that theydeserve to be there. Star of theshow as expected was Ireland,unlucky to miss out on quarter-final qualification on net run rate,but showing the ability to competewith any team, even with a weakseam attack hampered by the lossof Tim Murtagh to injury and BoydRankin to England.

    All of its regular top sevenbatsmen comfortably outscoredIreland-born England captain EionMorgans 90 runs at an average of18, and in fact the second-highestscoring batsman at this World Cupto have represented England wasIrelands former England player EdJoyce. That suggests theressomething about the Ireland teamenvironment that brings the bestout of players, and somethingabout the England one that doesthe opposite.

    Afghanistan, as it always does,won a lot of friends with itswhole-hearted, aggressive brand ofcricket, led by quicks DawlatZadran and Hamid Hassan, whoboth bowl at more than 140km/h(87 mph), while batsmen such as

    Samiullah Shenwari showedinnings-building class as well asbig hitting. Likewise ShaimanAnwar of the encouraginglycompetitive UAE, with 310tournament runs at an averageover 50. Scotland was perhaps theonly disappointing associate; iteven managed to lose to England.

    The fact that these teams didntmake the quarterfinals in no waydiminishes their performances.This is a vanishingly rare chancefor the associates to play againstthe top sides in any context, letalone in a competition that reallymatters. Theres no saying howgood the likes of Ireland andAfghanistan could be if they hadregular exposure to the top sides.Crowded fixtures schedules for thebig teams mean that is somethingtheyre unlikely to get, unlessthose big teams decide that theycould in fact cut down the lengthof some of the context-free,bilateral one-day internationalseries they so often play againsteach other. It sounds like asacrifice, given that none of theassociates are exactly box office atthe moment, but then neither was,say, Sri Lanka when it first gotTest status in 1981and 15 yearslater it had won the World Cup.Lack of spectator appeal is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    The smaller nations do have achance to qualify for the 2019World Cup. The top eight teams inthe ICC ODI team rankings qualifyautomatically, and 10 other teamswill fight it out for the tworemaining places at a qualifyingtournament, qualification forwhich will be also based on therankings. But even the rankingsare loaded against the smallernations: Wins over higher-ratedteams are worth more points, butyou cant win against teams youdont play, so a low position in the

    rankings is another self-fulfillingprophecy.

    At least 14 teams should play inthe World Cup, and preferablymore. Moreover, Ireland should begiven Test status; it is at least asready as Bangladesh was in 2000,or even Zimbabwe in 1992 or SriLanka in 1981. The only thing theteam lacks is genuinely fastbowlers, but so did those otherteams. If nothing else, it wouldhalt the talent drain of Testaspirants to England. Afghanistan,which possesses useful quicks,isnt too far from being ready,either.

    The Test-playing nations mayfeel it is to their advantage toexclude the smaller teams fromthe World Cup and from Teststatus, but thats only true in theshort term. In the long term,cricket needs to compete against ahost of expansionist sports withbroader-based appeal. For its ownfuture, the game needs to grow.

    When India became a Test-playing nation in 1932, the notionof it ever generating the majorityof global cricketing revenue musthave seemed very remote indeed.But if the five existing Test-playingnations then had voted againstadmitting it, cricket would be ashadow of the international sportit is today. It pays to play the longgame.

    Getting more people to watchthe tournament, both at thevenues and on TV, is a laudableaim, but not if it comes at theexpense of broadening cricketsglobal appeal. The ICC has beenknown to change its mind when itcomes to the format and makeupof major tournaments. For thesake of the future of the game as aglobal spectacle, rather than onepreserved as an elite club for theselect few, it needs to change itsmind about the 2019 World Cup.

    Hopefuls Deserve Day in the SunBY RICHARD LORD

    At least 14 teams shouldplay in the World Cup, andpreferably more.

  • THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 | 5

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    24 | Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

    PERSONAL JOURNAL

    Climbing Colorados 14ers in SkisThe first woman to climb and ski the states 54 highest peaks uses skins to make her ascent

    Christy Mahon knows themountains of Colorado. She wasthe first woman to climb and skiall 54 of Colorados 14,000-foot-or-higher peakswhat mountain-eers call a 14er.

    Ms. Mahon climbed all of the14ers between 2000 and 2004. In2008, she decided to tackle themountains when they were cov-ered in snow.

    To summit the snowy moun-tains, Ms. Mahon, 39, attachesskins, or synthetic sleeves, to the

    back of her alpinetouring skis sothey dont slidebackward. Some-times I need to put

    on crampons and use an ice axwhen it gets really steep, shesays. At the top, she removes theskins and skis down. Skiing downis the fun part.

    Skiing 14ers is a lot differentthan skiing the trails of a moun-tain resort, says Ms. Mahon. Thetrails arent groomedand youneed to be experienced with snowconditions and avalanche safety,she says.

    Ms. Mahon achieved her goalof skiing all of the states 14ers in2010.

    She was always a skier andhiker but she says it wasnt untilshe moved to Aspen from Denverin 1998 that she took her outdooradventures to the next level. Peo-ple in Aspen are always pushingthemselves to do new and differentthings, says Ms. Mahon, who mether husband while he was trying tosummit the states 14ers and be-came his main climbing partner.

    When he climbed them all, Ifigured I should just keep going tonab them all as well, she says. Ithought it would motivate me tosee Colorados quirky little moun-tain towns and also get to knowthe local wilderness.

    As the development director forthe nonprofit Aspen Center for En-vironmental Studies, Ms. Mahonworks closely with schools and thelocal community, teaching every-thing from forest health to sustain-able agriculture.

    Its my job to connect peoplewith the natural world and givethem hands-on experiences in theenvironment, she says.

    She says Colorados springmonthsMarch through Mayareprime time for skiing 14ers.Thats when the state typicallysees its biggest snow storms [and]when snow sticks to the peak,she says. That leaves winter tobuild the fitness levels it takes toskin sometimes seven hours to thetop of a mountain.

    Her new challenge is to ski allof Colorados Centennial Peaks,the states 100 highest peaks, bythe end of this spring.

    The WorkoutDuring the workweek, she tries

    to skin twice, run twice, downhillski twice, cross-country ski twice,strength-train twice and do yogaat least once. Cross-training isreally important physically andmentally, she says.

    Ms. Mahon lives next to AspensHunter Creek Trail and runs thetrail with Yaktrax, an ice-tractiondevice, on her sneakers, for aboutan hour. On days when the temper-

    ature drops below zero, she runson a treadmill at the Aspen Club &Spa. Running is good maintenancefor me in the winter, she says.When youre climbing peaks,youre at high altitudes so it helpsto learn to control your breathing.

    She takes high intensity train-ing classes twice a week at thegym. Its kind of like CrossFit butwith lighter weights, she says.

    During the weekends, she triesto get in the backcountry for atleast one long ski-touring day.That usually includes a few milesskinning up a mountain and thenmaking some fun powder turnsdown, she says.

    If the conditions dont allow for

    safe travel in the backcountry, sheheads over to Aspen Highlands skiarea, which is known for theHighland Bowl. At the top of thebowl is Highland Peak, at an eleva-tion of 12,392 feet (3,777 meters).

    The DietShe starts her day with steel-

    cut oats with blueberries, flax-seed, chia seeds and cinnamon.Lunch is almost always a kalesalad with pomegranate, sesameseeds and balsamic vinaigrette.For dinner, she typically cooksquinoa and roasted vegetables.

    The GearMs. Mahon wears Athleta yoga

    clothing, and for skiing and run-ning, she wears Stio, which is asponsor.

    She runs in Brooks trail-run-ning sneakers. Her Dynafit andKastle alpine touring skis cost$700 a pair and skins run between$120 and $140 a pair. Her mem-bership at the Aspen Club & Spacosts $165 a month.

    The PlaylistMs. Mahon says Foster the Peo-

    ple has been her go-to Pandorachannel lately. She also listens tobooks on tape during runs. Somedays Im motivated to run because Iwant to find out what happens nextin my book.

    BY JENMURPHY

    Christy Mahon, above, skins up the Highland Bowl in the Aspen Highlands ski area. At the top of the bowl is HighlandPeak, which has an elevation of 12,392 feet, or 3,777 meters. Below left, Ms. Mahon skis down the bowl; right, she runsnear the North Star Nature Preserve in Aspen. She says March through May are prime months for skiing 14ers in Colorado.

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    WHATSYOURWORKOUT?

    Skiing With Skins:What Goes DownThe Mountain,Must First Go Up

    Using skis to go uphill is becom-ing a popular form of exercise, ac-cording to Steve Szoradi, managingpartner of Aspen Alpine Guides.Were seeing more people usingbackcountry gear [on groomedtrails] to stay fit, he says. Butwhat does it take to climb a moun-tain in skis?

    You need alpine touring skis,which are lighter and more flexiblethan typical downhill skis, says Mr.Szoradi. Alpine skis also dont havethe metal edge of a downhill ski,which is used for turns, he says.

    And alpine-touring bindings havea fixed point for the toe so the heelcan be lifted when going up. Thebinding locks down on the heel whenyou are ready to ski down, he says.

    To go uphill, skiers put skins, socalled because they were oncemade from animal skins, on thebottom of their skis for tractionand use a gliding motion.

    You never pick up your feet,Mr. Szoradi says. Its more efficientto slide or shuffle your skis alongthe snow. A lot of balance and ef-fort are involved, especially if condi-tions are icy or you arent ongroomed snow.

    Mr. Szoradi says when per-formed at altitude, the activity be-comes even more challenging. Ataltitude, you have less oxygen andyour muscles use oxygen to main-tain their strength, he explains.

    He suggests avoiding alcoholand staying hydrated with electro-lytes to help acclimate.

    Jen Murphy

  • 6 | Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

    EUROPE NEWS

    Heavenly Show Ahead for SomeParts of Europe will be treated to

    three celestial events at once on Fri-day: a supermoon, a total eclipse ofthe sun, and the spring equinox,when night and day are of equal du-ration.

    Solar eclipses are rare. The illu-sion of a supermoon can be wit-nessed several times a year, whenthe moon flies closest to the Earthand therefore appears larger thanusual. The spring equinox occurs ev-ery year, and marks the beginning ofspring in the northern hemisphere.

    But the concurrence of all threeevents is extremely unusual, and hasexcited skywatchers.

    These are rare events and there-fore memorable, said Radmila To-palovic, an astronomer at the RoyalObservatory Greenwich, England,which will aim a dozen speciallymodified telescopes at the sky onFriday so people can view the two-hour eclipse. Despite all the plan-ning its going to be a humbling ex-perience.

    A solar eclipse occurs when themoon completely blocks the viewfrom Earth of the suns disk, turningday into night. Though total solareclipses occur somewhere on Earthevery 18 months on average, they re-cur at any given place just once every360 to 410 years. The moon is 400times smaller than the sun but 400times closer, so it appears the samesize in the sky and virtually covers allof the sun during a solar eclipse.

    During a total eclipse, the cone-shaped shadow of the moon be-comes narrower as it extends to-ward Earth. The path of totality istypically 10,000 miles (16,000 kilo-meters) long but only about 100miles wide.

    On Friday, people living in partsof the Arctic and the far north of Eu-rope will witness the eclipse in itstotality, while most of Europe andparts of northern Africa will see apartial eclipse. In parts of Britain,the moon will blot out 85% of thesun and cast an eerie light duringthe morning rush hour and schoolrun. Skywatchers in the U.S. will seenothing, but will get a view of oneon Aug. 21, 2017.

    A supermoon, by contrast, is anillusion. Because of the moons ovalorbit, a full moon appears to vary insize when it is viewed from Earth.

    The moon follows an elliptical routearound Earth such that one side, orperigee, is roughly 50,000 kilome-ters closer than the other. A super-moon occurs on the perigee side ofthe moons orbit.

    Because it is so close, a super-moon can seem unusually big andbright. They are especially dramaticjust above the horizon.

    Fridays supermoon could affecthow some viewers witness theeclipse, such as those in the FaeroeIslands who are in the path of total-ity. Because the moon will be closestto Earth that day, Faeroe Islanderswill witness slightly more of thesuns face covered up when com-pared with what they would see dur-ing a regular, total solar eclipse.

    BY GAUTAM NAIK

    Tourists in the Faeroe Islands, a prime vantage point, prepare on Thursday.

    ZumaPress

    Near-Total Eclipse to Strain Europes Solar SectorROMEIn ancient times, an

    eclipse was sometimes viewed as asign of a coming doomsday. On Fri-day, when much of Europe experi-ences a near-total one, its huge so-lar sector will face its first majorchallenge.

    The solar eclipse will provide anacid test for a continent that hasplaced a big bet on renewable en-ergybut whose aging electricitygrids could buckle under the strainof a sudden drop in solar power.

    Given the growth of renewablesacross Europe in recent years, thiswill require an unprecedentedamount of careful balancing of sup-ply and demand across the grid,said Valentin de Miguel of consult-ing firm Accenture.

    Starting Friday morning, the sunwill disappear over much of Europe,with some northern countries expe-riencing as much as an 80% reduc-

    tion of sunlight.The partial disappearance of the

    sun Friday will place a huge strainon Europes energy system. Nor-mally, when the sun goes down, ittakes about an hour for the light tofade. That gives time for electricitygrids to substitute the power flow-ing from solar panels with electric-ity generated from traditionalsources such as coal and naturalgas.

    An eclipse blocks the sun in justa few minutes, though, leading to apotential sudden drop of up to35,000 megawatts of generation ca-pacity. That is the equivalent ofabout 20 large coal-fired powerplants coming off the grid at thesame time. Conventional electricitysuppliers will have to seamlesslysubstitute power to prevent black-outs, and then they must shut downcapacity as solar power rebounds.

    A break in the switch from solarto conventional power sources couldresult in a cascade of electricity

    blackouts, similar to when a treefalls on a local power line but acrossthe country, said Alessandro Abate,a professor at Oxford UniversitysDepartment of Computer Science,who is studying Fridays eclipse.

    Since the last solar eclipse oc-curred over Europe in 1999, the re-gions energy supply has radicallychanged. Europe has made a majorpush into renewable energy, withthe share of electricity coming fromsuch sources rising to about 20% by2012 from 12% in 2002, according toEurostat.

    Solar panels provide roughly 3%of Europes electricity supply, fromnearly zero a decade ago. In Ger-many and Italy, rich incentives gaverise to two of the biggest solar mar-kets in the world. Last year, solarenergy made up about 8% of allelectricity in Italy and 7% in Ger-many. Even the Vatican boasts solarpanels.

    As recently as five years ago,there was no idea that Europe

    would have been so full of photovol-taic panels at that time, said Fran-cesco Starace, CEO of Italian utilityEnel SpA on Thursday.

    But the addition of so many in-termittent power sources, includingwind, has raised concerns about thepotential instability of electricitygrids that were built to distributepower from huge, central powerplants with relatively stable output.

    The grids were built decadesago when there was really no re-newables, especially solar, Mr.Abate said.

    For months, teams at grid opera-tors across Europe have been plan-ning for the event, boosting re-serves and ordering backup energy,mainly from traditional electricityplants running on coal and gas.

    In Italy, which will experience a60% eclipse, electricity grid TernaSpA is playing it safe by shuttingdown almost 25% of its solar capac-ity Friday morning. It is also settingaside reserves generated from gas

    and hydropower equal to as much as10% above the usual power-con-sumption level.

    We are making sure nothing isleft to chance, says Antonio Car-raro, Ternas national dispatchingdirector.

    The eclipse could also exposeany weaknesses within the pan-Eu-ropean grid that is meant to shiftpower among 30 countries, which iscrucial to evening out imbalancesand guarding against blackouts.

    At Entso-e, Europes network oftransmission system operators, staffhave been working on plans formonths. The preparation has beengood. So were confident, but younever know what will happen, saidKonstantin Staschus, secretary-gen-eral of Entso-e.

    This just shows that countriesneed an energy mix of conventionalfossil fuel as well renewables, saidRaffaele Chiulli, president of Rome-based energy think tank SAFE.They complement each other.

    BY LIAMMOLONEYAND KJETILMALKENESHOVLAND

    Banks ShowIncreasedDemand forECB Loans

    FRANKFURTThe eurozoneeconomy is gaining steam and spur-ring bank demand for new loans, ac-cording to reports from the Euro-pean Central Bank, raising hopesthat its stimulus measures are fi-nally taking hold in a region thathas been one of the global econ-omys weakest spots for severalyears.

    The ECB said on Thursday thatbanks borrowed 97.8 billion($106.2 billion) in four-year loansfrom the central bank in the thirdinstallment of a program begun lastyear to spur new credit to the pri-vate sector. Analysts at RBC CapitalMarkets had expected banks to takeup 50 billion to 60 billion. In thefirst two tranches conducted lastyear, banks borrowed around 212billion.

    The operation on Thursday wasthe first to include a new sweetener:In January the ECB said that itwould remove a 0.1-percentage-point surcharge on the loans, mean-ing that the latest batch carried aninterest rate of just 0.05%.

    I take this as a welcome sign,said James Ashley, an economist atRBC Capital Markets, referring tothe demand for four-year loans.The fact that banks feel sufficientlyconfident to take this funding sug-gests they have firmer plans to ex-tend this to the real economy thanthey did three or six months ago.

    A separate report from the ECBon Thursday also heralded an im-proved outlook for the 19-membereurozone. The bloc is the worldssecond-biggest economic region be-hind the U.S., but its growth haslagged well behind other developedeconomies such as the U.S. and U.K.

    Growth in activity is expectedto increase on account of the recentimprovements in business and con-sumer confidence, the sharp fall inoil prices, the weakening of the ef-fective exchange rate of the euroand the impact of the ECBs recentmonetary policy measures, the ECBsaid in its economic bulletin.

    BY BRIAN BLACKSTONE

    Celestial TrifectaThe Earth on Friday will experience a full solar eclipse, supermoon and spring equinox all at the same time.

    Full eclipse

    Partial eclipse

    Partial orno eclipse

    Faroe Islands

    Svalbard(Norway)

    THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.Source: HM Nautical Almanac Ofce

    E q u a t o r

    Heres a look at wherethe eclipse will beexperienced

    A F R I C A

    E U R O P E

    A S I A

    N O R T HA M E R I C A

    THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, March 20 - 22, 2015 | 23

    Major players & benchmarks

    Credit derivativesSpreads on credit derivatives are oneway themarket ratescreditworthiness. Regions that are treading in roughwaterscan see spreads swing toward themaximumand vice versa.Indexes beloware for five-year swaps.

    Markit iTraxx Indexes SPREADRANGE, in pct. pts.Mid-spread, sincemost recent roll

    Index: series/version in pct. pts. Mid-price Coupon Maximum Minimum Average

    Europe: 22/1 0.52 102.28% 0.01% 0.78 0.48 0.60

    Eur. HighVolatility: 20/1 0.52 101.81 0.01 0.84 0.48 0.64

    EuropeCrossover: 22/1 2.63 110.25 0.05 4.05 2.50 3.25

    Asia ex-Japan IG: 22/1 1.06 99.72 0.01 1.28 0.97 1.09

    Japan: 22/1 0.56 102.05 0.01 0.79 0.56 0.65

    Note: Data as ofMarch 18

    SpreadsSpreads onve-year swapsfor corporatedebt; based onMarkit iTraxxindexes.

    In percentage points

    2.00

    1.50

    1.00

    0.50

    0

    tAustralia

    t

    Japan

    2014Oct. Nov.

    2015Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.

    Index roll

    Source: Markit Group

    BehindEurope's deals: Bank revenue rankings, FranceBehind every IPO, bond offering,merger deal or syndicated loan is one ormore investment banks. Here areinvestment banks ranked by year-to-date revenues from recent deals.

    PERCENTAGEOFTOTALREVENUERevenue, Equity Debt Mergers&inmillions share capitalmarkets capitalmarkets acquisitions Loans

    BNPParibas $52 11.4% 8% 46% 37% 10%

    CreditAgricole CIB 40 8.8 3 74 11 12

    DeutscheBank 37 8.0 8 46 41 5

    SGCorporate InvestmentBanking 33 7.2 5 71 7 16

    Natixis 29 6.4 ... 55 28 17

    GoldmanSachs 25 5.5 27 65 1 6

    MorganStanley 24 5.2 17 64 12 6

    HSBC 24 5.2 14 65 ... 21

    Citi 21 4.7 ... 63 29 8

    Source: Dealogic

    Trackingcreditmarkets &dealmakers

    Dow Jones Industrial Average P/E: 16LAST: 17959.03 t 117.16, or 0.65%YEAR TO DATE: s 135.96, or 0.8%OVER 52WEEKS s 1,627.98, or 10.0%

    Note: Price-to-earnings ratios are for trailing 12 months

    18500

    18000

    17500

    17000

    16500

    1600026 2 9 16 23 30

    Jan.6 13 20 27

    Feb.6 13

    Mar.

    High

    CloseLow

    50daymoving average

    t

    StoxxEurope50: Thursday's best andworst...

    Previousclose, in STOCK PERFORMANCE

    Company Country Industry Volume local currency Previous session YTD 52-week

    BHPBilliton United Kingdom GeneralMining 10,100,062 1,486 1.89% 7.0% -16.5%

    RocheHolding Part. Cert. Switzerland Pharmaceuticals 1,759,312 272.30 1.64 0.9 4.5

    Glencore PLC United Kingdom GeneralMining 43,013,463 285.75 1.58 -4.4 -5.2

    BNPParibas France Banks 5,461,288 52.96 1.36 7.5 -6.5

    Reckitt Benckiser Grp United Kingdom Nondurable Household Products 1,522,077 5,990 1.35 15.0 22.4

    Siemens Germany Diversified Industrials 5,539,091 100.95 -4.18% 7.7 4.8

    British American Tobacco United Kingdom Tobacco 5,947,662 3,668 -3.37 4.8 13.5

    LVMHMoet Hennessy France Clothing & Accessories 1,054,885 168.30 -1.43 27.3 45.6

    Unilever CVA Netherlands Food Products 5,874,079 39.83 -1.42 22.0 43.2

    Telefonica S.A. Spain Fixed Line Telecommunications 20,367,935 13.06 -1.06 9.6 18.1

    ...And the rest of Europe's blue chipsLatest,in local STOCK PERFORMANCE

    Company/Country (Industry) Volume currency Latest YTD 52-week

    BGGrp 12,166,154 859.50 1.32% -0.6% -19.7%United Kingdom (Integrated Oil & Gas)Deutsche Bank 9,172,064 31.03 1.21 24.2 -4.7Germany (Banks)BPPLC 37,206,285 440.90 1.10 7.3 -7.6United Kingdom (Integrated Oil & Gas)Prudential 5,948,712 1,752 1.10 17.4 30.8United Kingdom (Life Insurance)ENI 22,442,170 15.71 1.09 8.3 -10.7Italy (Integrated Oil & Gas)Total 6,671,262 46.48 1.03 9.3 -1.7France (Integrated Oil & Gas)BTGroup PLC 16,337,502 463.20 1.00 15.4 17.0United Kingdom (Fixed Line Telecommunications)Novartis AG 4,628,933 99.20 0.97 7.4 38.5Switzerland (Pharmaceuticals)Royal Dutch Shell A 7,977,303 2,042 0.96 -5.2 -5.7United Kingdom (Integrated Oil & Gas)Financiere Richemont 1,420,287 84.20 0.90 -5.2 3.0Switzerland (Clothing & Accessories)SAP 4,868,591 66.10 0.87 13.5 18.4Germany (Software)National Grid 10,891,290 888.30 0.83 -3.2 7.0United Kingdom (Multiutilities)AstraZeneca 2,868,821 4,786 0.75 5.0 20.3United Kingdom (Pharmaceuticals)Standard Chartered 9,785,566 1,051 0.72 9.1 -11.4United Kingdom (Banks)ABB 10,940,616 20.70 0.63 -2.1 -6.1Switzerland (Industrial Machinery)UBSGroup 11,404,192 18.04 0.61 5.6 -0.1Switzerland (Banks)Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argn 26,442,628 9.08 0.60 15.5 5.4Spain (Banks)Rio Tinto 4,308,088 2,846 0.53 -5.2 -9.5United Kingdom (GeneralMining)Banco Santander S.A. 51,454,980 6.49 0.50 -6.3 3.9Spain (Banks)Zurich Insurance Group 528,619 326.20 0.49 4.7 24.0Switzerland (Full Line Insurance)

    Latest,in local STOCK PERFORMANCE

    Company/Country (Industry) Volume currency Latest YTD 52-week

    Nestle 5,709,915 76.55 0.46 4.9 18.1Switzerland (Food Products)GlaxoSmithKline 10,769,731 1,630 0.40 18.5 -1.5United Kingdom (Pharmaceuticals)Daimler 5,117,951 90.25 0.38 30.9 37.0Germany (Automobiles)Allianz SE 1,735,214 158.45 0.35 15.4 30.6Germany (Full Line Insurance)Anheuser-Busch InBev 1,600,239 114.10 0.26 21.6 57.5Belgium (Brewers)Credit Suisse GroupAG 4,610,900 25.08 0.20 ... -8.3Switzerland (Banks)Barclays 44,500,418 252.80 0.18 3.8 4.7United Kingdom (Banks)INGGroep 18,607,678 13.53 0.07 24.9 33.7Netherlands (Banks)Vodafone Group 82,200,698 225.90 0.07 1.5 -0.8United Kingdom (Mobile Telecommunications)AXA 8,808,248 23.33 ... 21.5 27.4France (Full Line Insurance)Lloyds Banking Group PLC 158,815,738 79.50 ... 4.9 0.6United Kingdom (Banks)Sanofi SA 3,261,003 92.98 -0.09 22.9 27.0France (Pharmaceuticals)Deutsche Telekom 14,551,402 16.73 -0.12 26.3 47.3Germany (Mobile Telecommunications)Bayer 2,488,732 142.40 -0.21 26.0 47.8Germany (Specialty Chemicals)HSBCHldgs 25,963,047 577.10 -0.38 -5.2 -2.5Unit


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