Interesting that the Euro area is contracting!!  From the Economist.com here:

EUROPEANS might be forgiven for feeling bruised. The housing bust across the Atlantic was the trigger for the credit crunch, so justice demands that America suffer most from the fallout. But America has not so far followed the script, weathering the storms better than it expected. Its GDP suffered a tiny decline at the end of 2007, but it grew at an annualised rate of around 2% in the second quarter of 2008.

Europe is struggling to stay above water. Figures released on Thursday August 14th showed that the euro-area economy shrank at an annualised rate of 0.8% in the second quarter, the first such reverse since 2001. Nor are things likely to improve soon. A closely watched survey of purchasing managers in manufacturing and services slumped in July to its lowest level since 2001. Business confidence has turned down sharply in all of the three biggest economies in the euro area: Germany, France and Italy.

So we see that the dollar/euro exchange rate has now depreciated from $1.58 per Euro to $1.46 yesterday!  Click here to see a good graph of how fast the relatively stable rates have dropped in the past month!!!

And below see the graph in the Economist article of real GDP in the four top countries:

                                             

I did advise a colleague a few months ago when the Spanish housing crunch began that the Euro was now set for a fall!  The Canadian dollar is also off parity with the U.S. dollar (parity is 1 to 1), now U.S. citizens only need pay 94 cents for a Canadian dollar.  More on this part soon.  (Still in Cedar Rapids but beginning the trip Westward to Denver today).