As I write, the euro stays deep in its despond at just $0.96/e. That's a far cry from $1.15/e at its launch. Why does the euro stay weak?
There are two key reasons. First, investors still see the US economic cycle as much stronger than core Europe's. Europe is still pottering along at around 2.5% a year while the US races by at over 4% annually. And the data for household spending continue to hit the highs in the US, while Germany struggles to register much more than 1% annual growth in shop sales.
America's spending binge has provoked a more hawkish Federal Reserve with Alan Greenspan clearly in a tightening mode. As a result, interest rates in the eurozone are some 3% below those in the US and that's hardly supportive of the euro.
But the main reason why the euro languishes and the greenback glows is that global investors continue to pump huge flows of capital into US financial assets, particularly into US corporate mergers and bonds.