The euro and the US dollar are at parity for the first time in 20 years
Source: CNN Business
New York (CNN Business)For the first time in 20 years, the exchange rate between the euro (EUU) and the US dollar has reached parity -- meaning the two currencies are worth the same.The euro hit $1 on Tuesday, down about 12% since the start of the year. Fears of recession on the continent abound, stoked by high inflation and energy supply uncertainty caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union, which received roughly 40% of its gas through Russian pipelines before the war, is attempting to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas. At the same, Russia has throttled back gas supplies to some EU countries and recently cut the flow in the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 60%. Now that critical piece of gas import infrastructure in Europe, has been shut down for scheduled maintenance due to last 10 days.
German officials fear that it may not be turned on again.The energy crisis comes alongside an economic slowdown, which has cast doubts over whether the European Central Bank can adequately tighten policy to bring down inflation. The ECB announced that it will hike interest rates this month for the first time since 2011, as the eurozone inflation rate sits at 8.6%. But some say the ECB is far behind the curve, and that a hard landing is all but inevitable.
Germany recorded its first trade deficit in goods since 1991 last week as fuel prices and general supply chain chaos significantly increased the price of imports. "Given the nature of Germany's exports which are commodity-price sensitive, it remains hard to imagine that the trade balance could improve significantly from here in the next few months given the expected slowdown in the eurozone economy," Saxo Bank foreign exchange strategists wrote in a recent note.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/12/investing/euro-dollar-parity/index.html
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I did actually find someone's tweet that claimed it did go to 0.99 back on July 5th (briefly). The intraday ups and downs are hard to nail obviously.
It was a cool trip too! Got to visit East Germany for the first time. Spent a couple days seeing the city of Dresden, the small town of Schneeberg, and the Wartburg castle/monastery where Martin Luther hid from the Pope 500 years ago.
What was interesting about East Germany was at that time, very few East Germans spoke English. Of course that has changed now, but in 2002 the wall had recently come down and the reunification of east and west Germany was taking place. Not many American tourists were visiting those areas yet, and I'm so glad i got to see it.
one of my church choir's members (one of the professionals) went over there to perform and went to the wall as people were taking it apart, and brought pieces back for all of us. I still have my piece in a container with all my old leftover currencies saved over the past 50+ years.
I haven't been but one of my sisters has several times for work (various cities).
of where the wall was.
I do sometimes worry that Russia might have its eye on Germany's eastern border though, since Pootie seems to long for "the old days". 
On my most recent trip to Berlin in 2015 there were tourist buses pulling over and stopping. A lot of recent graffiti, in many languages and very colorful. The tourists would get out and take their selfies. I'm pretty sure that section will always be there as a reminder, and as a draw for tourists. The rest of the wall has mostly come down, because it was like an ugly scab on a beautiful city.
I've seen pics of that as a "monument" of sorts to provide perspective.
Gotta thank that "Marshall Plan" - at least for the western side. 
