Economy: Why Europe`s Economy is Benefitting From Greece

(Drivebycuriosity) - Europe´s economy is recovering thanks to extremely low interest rates and the sharp drop of the Euro (seekingalpha). Since last summer the European currency fell 22% against the US dollar. Companies like Volkswagen, Adidas, BASF (chemistry), Siemens (infrastructure), Unilever (food, household goods), Air Liquide (chemistry) have now a huge advantage on the global markets because they can sell their goods much cheaper.

But in March the Euro suddenly started to rise and jumped within a few days from $1.05 to $1.10, a plus of 5%. It looked like a Euro recovery rally had started which could have diminished the competition advantage for the European companies and in this way endanger the recovery.

Anyway, this rally fizzled in the last days of March and the Euro dropped back to below $1.06. It seems the Euro stays week on the international currency markets in spite of the recovering economy. I believe that the sustained weakness of the European currency - which translates into sustained competitive advantages for European exporters - is caused by the ongoing Greek mess (reuters). Many traders seem to avoid the european Currency because of Greece.  And Central banks worldwide have been cutting their euro holdings maybe because the Greek mess is spoiling the Euro´s status as reserve currency (seekingalpha). If that so, European exporters can be grateful to Greece.