DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, we are watching the European markets. And we've seen some interesting action recently in the currency markets, specifically. Joining me to talk more about what is roiling those markets is Lionel Barber, European editor of the "Financial Times," in London. Good to have you with us, Lionel. And we've got the euro bouncing back a bit today, but it's still under 86 cents. What's the prognosis?</s>LIONEL BARBER, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, I think the real problem now is that we've finally woken up to the slowdown from the United States affecting continental Europe. And not just Germany, which is the traditional powerhouse of the European economy, but also France, where we saw yesterday lower-than-expected first quarter growth -- quite a bit lower -- and also some inflation problems in Germany. The question is, of course, whether that's just a spike on petrol prices or something slightly more serious. I think the bounce back of the euro this morning may be partly due to the fact that Italian consumer confidence is much stronger than we'd expected. Italy, by the way, has been growing more slowly than the rest of the euro zone. But as a result of the election of Sylvio Berlusconi, the center right premier, people are thinking a bit more liberalization, a bit of flexibility in the Italian economy. Everybody going along with Italian manufacturing in northern Italy, which is traditionally quite good. Then they get bit of bounce back. So I think that accounts for some of this moving around back and forth of the euro.</s>MARCHINI: All right, thank you very much, Lionel Barber of the "FT." TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
'Financial Times': U.S. Slowdown Has Finally Hit Europe