Finally, because expectations of higher prices lead financial market  5  As natural gas is difficult to transport overseas, the increased supplies of natural gas in North America have not translated into significantly lower prices abroad. In the first quarter of 2011, natural gas prices in the United States were less than half of those in Germany.
For example, in the global imbalances debate, it is often noted that Europe has a current account position that is close to zero. This is true, but it masks large divergences between current account positions within the euro area, which are symptomatic of the problems manifesting themselves now. Secondly, there is nothing intrinsically optimal about zero.