High-grade corporate bonds surged when the European Central Bank added them to its €2.3 trillion purchase program last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, with a slowdown in ECB buying on the horizon—alongside potentially risky European elections—some investors are bracing for a selloff. The ECB started paring its monthly purchases of European debt from €80 billion to €60 billion in April, meaning it will buy around €1.9 billion fewer corporate bonds every month, assuming it keeps the allocation of its purchases steady.

The Greek government is on course to significantly exceed its creditor budget targets, the EU’s economics chief has said, as he warned Athens’ stuttering economic recovery was a risk of derailing from a long-running delay over its bailout. Addressing MEPs in Brussels on Tuesday, Pierre Moscovici said the Syriza-led government would exceed a 3 per cent primary budget surplus for 2016 when official figures are released later this month, the Financial Times reported.

Greek ministers and the country’s bailout monitors were on Tuesday trying to strike a deal on the pension and labour market reforms needed to unlock further financial aid, the Financial Times reported. With the clock ticking down to more than €6bn in debt repayments that Athens must make in July, negotiators say an accord on the main elements of the policy package must be reached soon to stave off the risk of a crisis this summer.

Thousands of elderly Greeks protested peacefully on Tuesday against more pension cuts, as cash-strapped Greece remained locked in talks with lenders on further austerity and unpopular labor reforms, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Pension cuts have been a regular feature of austerity drives to ensure that financial aid continues to the indebted country. Greece has needed three multi-billion bailouts since 2010 to stave off bankruptcy. Greece is now negotiating new cuts to keep its latest 86 billion-euro ($91.54 billion) bailout.

Nine years after the beginning of a 45-billion-pound ($56 billion) bailout by the British government, Royal Bank of Scotland is emerging from its restructuring process a shadow of what was once the biggest lender in the world, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. RBS had a balance sheet of 2.4 trillion pounds in 2008 - almost double Britain's annual economic output at the time - having staged a meteoric rise from being a small Scottish lender in the early 1990s.

Unions representing staff at Bus Éireann have said the current strike at the company will continue even if new talks aimed at finding a resolution to the dispute are convened. About 2,600 workers at the State-owned transport company will strike for a 12th consecutive day on Tuesday over plans by management at Bus Éireann to introduce new cost-saving measures and work practice reforms without the agreement of staff. The company argues the moves are essential if it is to stave off insolvency, the Irish Times reported.

The European Central Bank sees no evidence that its aggressive stimulus policy is hampering financial markets, ECB director Benoit Coeure said on Monday, despite deeply negative yields on some bonds and fresh signs of scarcity. His comments are likely to cool industry hopes for fresh ECB action to alleviate pressure on bond markets by lending out more of the 1.4 trillion euros ($1.49 trillion) worth of government debt it has bought or changing the country composition of its purchases, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Spanish engineering company Isolux said on Friday it had activated the formal process aimed at avoiding insolvency, as it battles to secure enough money to remain in business, Reuters reported. Under Spanish law, companies can enter into debt restructuring proceedings that give them up to four months to reach an agreement with creditors to avoid a full-blown insolvency process and a potential bankruptcy. Isolux has over 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in restructured debt, according to an update on its restructuring process published in December.

Principal Financial Group Inc. accused the managers of Liongate Capital Management LLP of hiding investments with Bernie Madoff while negotiating to sell half of their London hedge fund to Principal, Bloomberg News reported. Founders Randall Dillard and Jeff Holland, and Head of Research Benjamin Funk sold the stake in March 2013 without disclosing secret investments in the largest of several Madoff "feeder funds,” according to legal filings produced by Principal. It may be seeking as much as $66 million in damages in its London lawsuit.

The European Central Bank’s recent moves mark the first steps in winding down its aggressive monetary stimulus and the bank could soon take fresh steps toward an exit if economic data remain strong, a top ECB official said. Klaas Knot, who sits on the ECB’s rate-setting committee as governor of the Dutch central bank, said policy makers were increasingly optimistic about the strength of the economic recovery under way in the 19-nation eurozone, The Wall Street Journal reported.