Euro stays steady in range against dollar, sterling and is mildly firmer against yen as markets away the emergency talk of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussel regarding Greece. Greek government easily won a confidence vote yesterday, getting support of 162 deputies in the 300 seat parliament. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras reiterated that they are "not going to ask to extend the bailout" as it expires on February 28. Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told the parliament that the country was to move away from the "disastrous bailout agreement". Germany toughed up the stance as finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble insisted that creditors "can't negotiate something new" denied media report the European Commission will give Greece six more months to read a new agreement. Technically, euro stays vulnerable against dollar and sterling. A break of 1.1261 minor support in EUR/USD or 0.7403 low in EUR/GBP could trigger broad based selloff in the common currency.
In US, Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker said that rate hike in June "looks like the attractive option" and it takes some surprising data to change his view. San Francisco Fed president John Williams said that US is "getting closer and closer to those where it makes sense to really start thinking seriously about starting this process of normalization." And Williams said it's better for Fed to move sooner and then raise rates "gradually, thoughtfully", rather than waiting for too long and move rates "much more dramatically".
BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he received no criticism from G20 regarding Japan's quantitative and qualitative easing. He noted "the G-20 has confirmed that each central bank can use appropriate policy to fulfill its mandate for price stability and there is no change in that stance." Meanwhile, G20 finance ministers and central banks reiterated that "we will stick to our previous exchange rate commitments and will resist protectionism."
On the data front, Australia Westpac consumer confidence rose 8.0% in February, home loans rose 2.7% in December. The economic calendar is light and only crude oil inventories and Fed monthly budget statement is featured.