External sector won’t drive the recovery

September’s euro-zone trade data and November’s PMI surveys, both released last week, gave mixed signals on how the euro-zone’s external sector is developing. Whilst the survey data suggested that exports could pick up soon, the hard data painted a less encouraging picture. With the ECB unlikely to provide further significant support any time soon, it looks as if the strong euro will continue to be a major problem to the euro-zone’s exporters.