Euro Zone Sees No "Green Shoots" of Economic Recovery

Yesterday, euro zone leaders announced that they would be conducting their own bank stress test. The goal of the test is to assess the overall health of the European financial system. After today's economic data, though, there are concerns about what that stress test might turn up.

CNN Money reports that euro zone economists are finding a definite lack of economic recovery "green shoots":

"There are no green shoots here, everything is either a quarter or a fifth down on the year," Stuart Bennett, European economist at Calyon.

"An optimist would point to the fact that the data is 'old' referring to March and therefore may not have picked up on the comparative rise in sentiment during April and May. So perhaps second quarter GDP will prove better than first quarter but the outlook remains very weak," he said.

While optimism grows in the U.S., there are concerns in the euro zone that sentiment -- and economic data -- continue to decline. Industrial output is down, and that is being taken as a bad sign, especially when combined with other declining economic data.

The euro is pulling in back in forex trading against the U.S. dollar on the news. Poor economic data means a likley return to risk aversion, and use of the greenback as a safe haven investment.