IForex Daily : May 19, 2014

 | May 19, 2015 03:52AM ET

On Monday, the dollar posted a sharp recovery against most major currencies with no significant releases announced and as trading volumes were low. The dollar found some room for a rebound as investors remain on the sidelines waiting for Wednesday's Federal Reserve minutes for any possible hints on the timing of a rate increase and on Friday's data on U.S. inflation. Elsewhere, the euro zone is to release data on private sector activity and China is to publish preliminary data on manufacturing activity. Greece came close to defaulting on a €750 million IMF repayment, which it managed to gather from emergency reserves in its holding account at the IMF. Over the weekend, a leaked memo from the International Monetary Fund showed that there is "no possibility" that Athens can meet a loan repayment due on June 5 without unlocking bailout funds.

EUR/USD

The euro posted a sharp drop against the dollar, as Greek bond prices fell on renewed worries that the country will be exiting the European Union and will fail to repay its debt. Greece appears to be running out of funds after repaying 750 million euros to the IMF, however the Greek PM stated that he would prefer to default on its debt to the IMF, than fail to meet salary and pension payments to Greek municipal workers. Investors' attention is also shifted towards the Fed minutes this Wednesday as they look for clues on the future monetary policy of the Fed. For today the ZEW Institute is to report on German economic sentiment while in the U.S., data on building permits and housing starts are due later in the day.