Dollar is back from holiday trading broadly firmer. The dollar index is trading above 96.60 at the time of writing and the technical development affirmed that recent pull back is finished. Further rise would likely be seen in the index back to 100.39 high. That would correspond to EUR/USD's testing of 1.0461 low. Nonetheless, the greenback will face the test against yen, probably today, with USD/JPY heading to 122.01 resistance. Fed vice chairman Stanley Fischer said yesterday that the decisions on rate hike are "not date determined" but "data determined". Meanwhile, he said that "so much importance is given to first move and it’s misleading." And, the first hike is only a matter of "going from an ultra-expansionary monetary policy to an extremely expansionary monetary policy."
Euro is weighed down by the Greece standoff. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras's spokesman said yesterday that a deal could be made with the international creditors by the end of May. But finance minister Yanis Varoufakis blamed creditors' insistence on more austerity for the impasse. Varoufakis said that "Our government cannot - and will not - accept a cure that has proven itself over five long years to be worse than the disease." On the other hand, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard criticized that Greece's pension system is "often too generous" and there are "still too many civil servants".
On the data front, New Zealand trade surplus came in wider than expected at NZD 123m in April. Japan corporate service price index rose 0.7% yoy in April. US data will take the main stage today. Durable goods orders are expected to drop -0.4% in April while ex-transport orders are expected to grow 0.5%. House price index is expected to rise 0.7% mom in March while S&P Case-Shiller 20 cities house price is expected to rise 4.6% yoy in April. New home sales is expected to rise to 501k in April. Consumer confidence is expected to rise slightly to 95.3 in May.