Euro must get real to get better

Sometimes it seems the world is tilted against you, no matter how you try, and that is how the governments of the euro zone must feel about their fledgling currency.

With confidence in the US still high despite a slowing economy and fears rising of a more dramatic slowdown in Europe, the last thing the zone needed was to emerge on the losing side in the restructuring of the Morgan Stanley Capital Index, the baseline for so many fund managers.

The effect of the lowering of the weighting for companies in the euro zone was an accentuation of capital flows out of those states as managers sought to match their funds with the index players.

Compounded by worrying data from the euro zone's two largest economies - Germany and France - it was little wonder the currency tested lows not seen since concerted intervention towards the end of last year.

A further problem is confidence. Apart from policy confusion at the European Central Bank, there is a growing feeling that the currency will not find its true level until we all have notes and coins in hand. Not surprisingly, recent polls are showing that it's hard to believe strongly in something as abstract as today's euro.