Ballmer's $2 Billion Air Ball

By bidding an astonishing $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is about to join the exclusive, but widening, circle of technology moguls who have bought into major sports franchises. Besides being described as a basketball fanatic, the purchase would put him in the company of other tech titans whose new hobby is to snatch up sports franchises. According to a compilation at Quartz, a dozen technology moguls own major sports teams, led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, with the NFL Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and the NBA's Portland Trailblazers. Meanwhile, central banks, already the driver of global market action, will be even more in focus this week. Key will be Thursday's meeting of the European Central Bank, where it's widely assumed further stimulus will be announced after ECB president Mario Draghi's broad hints of such in May.