| 08.30 AM GMT Overall strategy: The Greek situation will continue to be monitored very closely with high market volatility likely to be a key feature as Athens faces a crucial series of debt payments in June and default threat if no agreement can be reached within the next few days. Federal Reserve policies will also continue to be watched very closely in the short-term with the dollar gaining support if there is more sustained evidence of an improved outlook which would push the Fed closer to an initial increase in interest rates. Key events for the forthcoming week | Date | Time (GMT) | Data release/event | | Tuesday June 2nd | 04.30 | Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision | | Wednesday June 3rd | 11.45 | ECB policy decision | | Thursday June 4th | 11.00 | Bank of England policy decision | | Friday June 5th | 12.30 | US employment report | Market analysis Dollar: Although there is still a state of flux surrounding US economic trends, the latest releases have been slightly more optimistic with expectations of stronger consumer spending over the next few months. The Federal Reserve is still looking to increase rates this year which will underpin the dollar, although there is also likely to be a commitment to increasing rates very slowly which could spark aggressive corrections at times. The dollar should continue to gain strong support from global monetary-policy trends and there is still the potential for a further closing of dollar-funded carry trades which could trigger sharp gains. The dollar pushed sharply higher late last week and maintained a firmer tone this week as it probed one-month highs against the Euro before correcting slightly weaker. Headline US inflation data was in line with expectations at 0.1% to give a slight 0.2% annual decline. Core data, however, was stronger than expected with a 0.3% monthly increase under the influence of higher medical and housing costs. This pushed the underlying annual increase to 1.8% advance, increasing speculation that underlying pricing pressures were starting to increase. The dollar secured a further lift later in the New York session following Fed Chair Yellen’s speech. The broad message was that the Fed is still on track to raise interest rates later this year. She repeated comments that first-quarter weakness was likely to be transitory while recent wage-growth developments had been more encouraging. There were still caveats in that she wanted to see further labour-market improvement before sanctioning a hike. Headline US durable goods orders was in line with expectations at -0.5% for May with underlying data also close to expectations at 0.5%. There was, however, a significant upward revision to April data and a positive reading for non-defence capital spending which suggests that capital spending levels could be improving. Consumer confidence was close to expectations at 95.4 for May from a revised 94.3 while the new home sales figure was stronger than expected at 517,000 from 484,000 previously. A notable feature was also a sharp rise in house prices within the data which would bolster the case for higher interest rates. Markets continued to monitor Fed officials with vice-chair Fischer not deviated significantly from recent comments, but he did indicate that global feedback would be considered by the Fed and suggesting a very slow pace of rate increases. Richmond Fed President Lacker reiterated that June was a good time to start considering increases. San Francisco Fed President Williams remained optimistic surrounding a stronger economy over the remainder of 2015 and was looking for interest rates to be increased with the potential for a move at any of the forthcoming meetings. US jobless claims data was slightly worse than expected with an increase to 282,000 in the latest week from 275,000 previously, although continuing claims held close to 15-year lows. The pending home sales data was stronger than expected with a 3.4% gain for March from a revised 1.2% gain, maintaining optimism over housing trends. | 
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