Euro's Outlook Brightens as Germany Fills Void

President Donald Trump’s recent decisions have a left a void in the U.S.’s global leadership. He decided to reduce the country’s global trade ties by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, insisted that North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies pay their “rightful share” of 2 percent of gross domestic product for their defense, and announced that the U.S. would exit the Paris climate accord.

U.S. leadership and global integration -- through closer trade, currency and policy-making ties -- have served financial markets and investors well since the end of World War II. Channeling American aid to war-devastated Europe between 1948 and 1951 through the Marshall Plan was a major factor in the recovery of the region, and helped make the continent a major destination for U.S. investment and exports. European and Japanese exports to the U.S. -- then, and now, the largest economy in the world -- helped revive those countries and provided a basis for their equity markets to grow.