Markets Focus On Greece

 | Jun 15, 2015 05:24AM ET

h2 Market Brief

This week, markets will be driven by the Greek saga after talks between Athens and its creditor broke down on Sunday evening. The deadline is approaching fast (end of June) and the eurogroup meeting on Thursday is broadly seen as the last chance for Greece to reach an agreement that will unlock the remaining €7.2bn bailout fund. In spite of last week’s highly uncertain environment, markets managed to remain relatively stable with most market participants consolidating their positions. However, we expect markets to feel the heat this week as the odds of a Greek default have increased considerably. Today, ECB President Mario Draghi will speak before the European Parliament in Brussels. We do not expect him to cover the Greek situation but rather to go over his previous comment about bond market volatility and to reiterate the ECB’s commitment to implement fully the QE.

EUR/USD had a quiet session in Asia and traded range-bound between 1.1190 and 1.1240 with a slight negative bias. On the downside, a key support stands at 1.1043 (previous highs) and the euro will need fresh boost to clear the area. The FOMC rate decision is due on Wednesday and like most market participants, we do not expect any rate hike at this meeting. We anticipate Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen to reiterate her call for a rate lift later in 2015 and to emphasise that the timing will be data dependent. May’s CPI are also due on Thursday, followed by Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook for June. Traders remain reluctant to build long USD positions before those key events. However the combination of hawkish Fed comments and higher CPI reads (on Thursday) will likely trigger some long USD positioning, mitigating partly the focus on the Greek situation.