Asian shares edged higher on Monday

Good Morning,

- The euro trade at its lowest levels since late April, as Greece case comes on a critical week.

- Asian shares edged higher on Monday.

- Finance ministers from the world's largest developed economies meet in Germany this week against a backdrop of faltering global growth, scant inflationary pressures and a bond market in turmoil. High on their agenda -- even if unofficially -- will be Greece and how it can stay in the troubled euro zone. Figures due on Friday from the United States that will almost certainly show the world's biggest economy contracted last quarter are also likely to feature.

- European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has urged euro zone countries to unite in the task of reforming the bloc's economies, saying sharing sovereignty was an opportunity and not a threat. Draghi is pushing governments not to waste the time ECB money printing has bought them.

- German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble sees no need to discuss “alternatives” or disbursing further aid to Athens, since “Greece has to deliver what it promised” on its current bailout program first, he said in a radio interview. “Greece committed itself to the fulfillment of this program on Feb. 20 and therefore we don’t need to talk about alternatives,” the minister said in an interview, adding that the country has “quite a lot of work ahead to fulfill what it has promised.”

- Greece cannot make a repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due on 5 June as it does not have the money, the interior minister says. "The four instalments for the IMF in June are €1.6bn, this money will not be given and is not there to be given,". Greece has to come to a deal with the IMF and EU to secure the final tranche of its bailout from the institutions. The finance minister meanwhile told the BBC that progress was being made. 'Do their bit' Yanis Varoufakis said Greece had worked hard to meet its end of the deal with its lenders.

- Morgan Stanley on EUR, USD: "USD: The End of a Consolidation - Bullish. We believe that the USD correction is likely nearing an end. This is less due to strength in US data than it is to the dovish comments from the EUR. That said, we do expect US data to pick up going forwards, and are encouraged by the strength in the housing print this week, which led us to revise our 2Q GDP forecast higher. What’s more, given the extent of disappointment with US data recently, we believe the bar for upside surprises is low, which should add to USD strength. EUR: Approaching a Turning Point - Bearish. We believe that EUR strength is likely to capitulate in the future. While the ECB may not be concerned about the rise in bond yields, the rise in bond volatility may be a source of concern, given its negative impact on EUR risk assets, and in turn, the positive impact on EUR as short positions put on as hedges are unwound. What’s more, the latest data shows that the recovery in the Euro Area may have lost momentum in 2Q, supporting our view that EUR could turn.

- The Bank of England plans to assess the implications of a possible British exit from the European Union, it said in a statement, confirming an email it inadvertently sent to a newspaper about the supposedly confidential research project.

- BOJ Gov Kuroda: "We expect inflation rate to start to accelerate in the second half of fiscal 2015 and reach around 2 percent in or around the first half of fiscal 2016. The latest data point can be interpreted as confirming that underlying inflation in Japan has been improving significantly, although the firmness is currently masked by the temporary negative impact of the sharp decline in oil prices".

- Oil speculators missed out as record demand from U.S. refineries helped trim supplies from their highest level in more than eight decades and drive prices higher. Hedge funds and other money managers reduced their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 7.1 percent in the seven days ended May 19, the most in two months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Short positions anticipating lower prices expanded by 30 percent. Crude snapped a five-day decline the following day after U.S. production fell to a three-month low and inventories slipped to the least since March.

Have a nice Week !