Greece negotiations could see some resolution over the weekend!
Key Notes:
- SNB Thomas Jordan speech
- UK CBI Reported sales 29 vs. 35
- US Initial jobless claims 271k vs. 273k
- US personal income m/m 0.5% vs. 0.5%; personal spending m/m 0.9% vs. 0.7%
- US PCE core Price index m/m 0.1% vs. 0.1%;
- US PCE core Price index y/y 1.2% vs. 1.2%; PCE Price index y/y 0.2% vs. 0.2%
Later:
- US PMI Services
The economic calendar was light today across Asia and Europe leaving the door open to Greece headlines. The Asian trading session was quiet with no major shifts in the FX markets. The Australian Dollar was relatively stronger early into the day as the AUDUSD gained close to 0.4% at the time of writing, trading near 0.7735. The Kiwi was also stronger and continued to post third day of gains. NZDUSD was up 0.3%, trading near 0.691 at the time of writing and comes after the currency declined to fresh yearly lows near 0.6815.
The Japanese Yen was mixed across the board. USDJPY was down -0.15% at the time of writing after the currency pair decline from opening session highs of 123.95. The Japanese Yen could see demand pick up ahead of the Greece crisis which could spill over into the weekend.
The European trading session was also quiet with the EURUSD trading mixed, susceptible to headline risks. There was no progress made on the negotiations today after Greece rejected the IMF’s counter proposals. It was also rumored that the ECB could look into limiting the ELA funding assistance to Greek banks, which remains the sole financial lifeline for the debt ridden country. Eurogroup meeting was underway today and it is very likely that a decision could be taken sometime over the weekend. The Euro, in this regards could turn very jumpy should some kind of deal be reached. Failure to reach an agreement by the weekend would mean that Greece would most likely head for a default as the country is expected to repay the IMF on June 30th.
EURUSD was mostly flat for the day although trading sideways for the most part near 1.12.
GBPUSD is looking to recover some of its losses after the Cable posted three days of losses. GBPUSD gained 0.16% for the day at the time of writing, trading near 1.573.
SNB Chief, Jordan gave a speech earlier today and stuck to the usual narrative of the Swiss Franc being overvalued. The CHF declined across the board modestly on the comments before recovering for the most part.
The US trading session saw a host of US economic data being released. Weekly jobless claims were posted at 271k better than the expected 273k, while the PCE readings on the y/y remained unchanged at 1.2% on the core. Personal spending however saw a surge, rising 0.9% beating estimates of 0.7%. The US Dollar did not react much as the index was trading most flat today. Later in the day the PMI services data is due for release.
