FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The Nomura economic team note an article in the Wall Street Journal that writes that for more than a decade, multinational companies invested heavily in Southern Europe as the birth of the Euro fuelled economic growth.

However, it appears that the golden age has come to an end and various companies are paring back or withdrawing entirely from Southern Europe with no plans to return.

The Journal writes that retreats are part of a corporate exodus that threatens to suck out the capital, innovation and managerial expertise that Southern Europe desperately needs to emerge from its debt crisis and recession and shrinking consumer spending and government austerity programmes are at the root of the problem.