A glance at headlines over the past few months and there is little mention of anything but Europe's periphery struggling but market performance implying that a turnaround is about to occur. Most of this is based on a belief that the core is doing 'well' and that the periphery is gradually becoming more competitive. However, as if elections were not enough to worry Frau Merkel, it turns out, as Diapason's Sean Corrigan notes, Germany's Industrial Production, stymied by a surging EUR, has just suffered its third biggest quarterly decline on record - plunging back to 2007 levels. Furthermore, France's Industrial Production is back at levels first seen in 1997 - also plunging (perhaps explaining Hollande's recent exclamations at EUR strength); as the core is starting to soften significantly.
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Charts: Bloomberg