The Facebook IPO - Because "This Time It's Different"

"The Super Bowl is the largest single event for carrots," says Bob Borda, marketing director for Grimmway Farms, one of the biggest distributors of baby-cut carrots. Grimmway sees about 25% higher carrot consumption on Super Bowl Sunday than on a typical Sunday, Mr. Borda says. Likewise for Bolthouse Farms, another large carrot distributor, which ships 28% more baby carrots during Super Bowl week than in the weeks before or after the big game.

The highest proportion of European companies on record are missing profit estimates even as the region’s stocks post their best start to a year since 1998. Siemens AG (SIE) and Ericsson AB (ERICB) are among the 59 percent of Stoxx Europe 600 Index companies reporting earnings that fell short of forecasts during the current quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the worst ratio since Bloomberg started collating estimates in 2006, with 39 percent of companies missing projections in an average quarter.

All three party leaders in Greece’s teetering national unity government have opposed new austerity measures demanded by international lenders, forcing eurozone finance ministers to postpone approval of a new €130bn bail-out and moving the country closer to a full-blown default.