As we recently noted [4], despite the incessant chatter that the worst is behind them [5] and the unending belief that if European politicians repeat a lie often enough it will become truth, the following chart perhaps better than many others shows the sorry state that exists in Europe's core and periphery - no green shoots, no second-derivative shifts, and only the 'Merkel-Draghi' wager [6] holding things together.
And despite US equity strength, European markets disappointed today with EURUSD back under 1.3000...
European stock indices closing red (not holding US equity-driven gains)...
and Italian and Spanish bond spreads leaking wider into the close (about 10bps off their intrday tights).
Source: Bloomberg and AEI [10]



