The euro · 1999 → today
The euro
How the single currency was built, broken, and held together. Below: the timeline of policy moves, the rate cycle, the balance sheet, and how peripheral spreads tell the real story.
Timeline
12 events. Click any event for details + related charts.
1999
2004
2009
2014
2019
2024
2026
rate changeqecrisismilestonetreaty
ECB main refinancing rate
Daily — with policy events overlaid
Balance sheet & money supply
Eurosystem total assets (weekly) + M2 (monthly)
Eurosystem balance sheet
Total assets, EUR millions
M2 (eurozone)
Intermediate money supply, EUR millions
EUR / USD
ECB reference exchange rate, daily
Inflation story
Eurozone HICP headline + core (monthly, % YoY)
Sovereign yield divergence (PIIGS vs. Bund)
10Y benchmark monthly — the chart that defined 2010-2012
The spread between peripheral 10Y yields and the German Bund is the cleanest measure of eurozone breakup risk. The narrowing after Draghi's July 2012 "whatever it takes" is the single most consequential central-bank communication on record.