Super-competitive core won’t stop euro losses

Euro seems to be caught between the push and pull of growing evidence that the 13% trade-weighted fall this year is paying dividends in activity in the core and the re-emergence of contagion fears in the periphery, Spain in particular. In the core, June’s better-than-expected business sentiment IFO survey compounded an already impressive run of manufacturing and export data. The headline IFO index stands well above its long-term average and export orders, for example, are more than 30% up from a