In the wake of yesterday’s national union strike the newly restructured Greek government will certainly be feeling the pressure today.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Tuesday, bringing Greece to a standstill, in order to protest against a bill which would put the jobs of over 20,000 public service employees at risk.
Although the public have made their opinion of this measure clear, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The bill must be approved at tonight’s roll-call vote in order for Greece to receive the next essential instalment of its bailout, but if it is the fragile coalition government could be rent asunder.
No matter what decision is made today there are sure to be significant repercussions for Greece, and developments in the nation could prove to be the most significant piece of Eurozone news this week.
The Euro/Pound pairing is currently trading in the region of 0.8706.
As the European session opened this morning the Euro gained on a broadly softening Pound but slipped modestly against the US Dollar ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech.
The expectation that today’s US housing starts data will show an increase for a second month, and thereby bolster the case for reining in quantitative easing, is likely to support the ‘Greenback’ in the hours ahead.
While today’s Eurozone construction output figures will be of interest, market movement is likely to be limited ahead of today’s big US developments.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
As of 08:50
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3137 <
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8706 >
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4276 >
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6720 >
The Euro/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3659 >