US Dollar Stronger Ahead Of Greece Last-Chance Talks

 | Jul 07, 2015 05:03AM ET

Market Brief

Greece will walk into the negotiation room today (6 pm CEST in Brussels) knowing that it is its last chance to reach an agreement with its European creditors. Greece has a new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, after Yanis Varoufakis was asked to resign by Alexis Tsipras with the purpose of showing goodwill regarding today’s key negotiations. However, Tsakalotos is not seen as pro-austerity, and it may be as difficult for EU finance ministers to negotiate with him as it was with Varoufakis. By declaring that “Greek people want a sustainable solution,” Greece’s new finance minister announced its line of negotiation and it seems that it is not much different from its predecessor. EUR/USD moved sideways in the Asian session as market participants patiently wait the outcome of the last-chance talks. Greek 10-year government bond yields rose to a 2.5-year high at 18.09%, while Italian and Spanish yields increased substantially at the short-end of the curve, with 2-year bond yields reaching 0.43% and 0.44% respectively.