How Everybody Learned to Love the Euro
The currency's strength could be seen as a judgment on Europe’s handling of the coronavirus when compared with the U.S. and other parts of the world.
A new direction.
Photographer: HAYOUNG JEON/AFPThe euro is at its strongest level for nearly two years on the European Central bank’s own official trade-weighted index, which compares it with a basket of other leading currencies. In the past, this would have been a serious worry for the world’s largest trading bloc. The continent, with Germany at the forefront, is heavily dependent on exports.
But things are different this time. The first stage of the post-Coronavirus economic recovery will be driven by domestic consumers, rather than overseas purchasers of goods. As such, the robustness of the euro should be seen as a judgment on Europe’s relative strength compared to the U.S. and other parts of the world.