#5 Large Russian companies or the government default on foreign debt as a result of plunging oil prices and a cold financial shoulder from Russia’s geopolitical antagonists.
#6 Amazon.com suffers a decline of 50 per cent due to overvaluation and the widespread fallout to the e-commerce industry.
#7 The already active Icelandic volcano Bardarbunga erupts, leading to a huge release of gases that cloud the skies over Europe. Despite a more modest fallout than expected, grain prices double amid fears of a weak harvest across Europe.
#8 Demand for chocolate continues to rise and the world consumes far more cocoa than it is producing, leading to record high prices of more than $US5000 a tonne.
#9 The UK Independence Party (UKIP) wins 25 per cent of the national vote in Britain’s general election in May and joins David Cameron’s Conservatives in a coalition government. It calls for the planned referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in 2017 as British government debt suffers a sharp rise in yields.
#10 High-yield corporate bond spread doubles and shock waves shake Europe’s weak economy. The Markit iTraxx Europe Crossover doubles to 700 basis points.