The great uncertainty regarding the future of Greece caused many investors to adopt a conservative posture during Asian trading on Thursday. The future regarding Greek private debt restructuring and bailout plans has raised tensions both inside the country, and for those who are proponents of the single currency. The proposed bailout of 130 million Euros carries many strings and an agreement has yet to be reached, with the Greek government and its people less than enthusiastic about some of the stipulations demanded by the EU and the IMF. The EUR/USD is up by 0.30% this morning, currently at 1.3302.

Busy economic calendar

The ECB Press Conference will be taking place today at 1:30pm Eastern Standard Time. The President and VP of the ECB will be addressing investors in the same fashion as Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, did yesterday. Investors should pay close attention during the question and answer portion of the press conference, which will probably present plenty of opportunity for short trading. 45 minutes before the ECB Press Conference, will be the Minimum Bid Rate for the EU. This is the investment rate for refinancing operations in the banking system. In the UK, the Manufacturing Production, Official Bank Rate and the NIESR GDP Estimate will all be made available.

Greek crisis pushed gold down

Gold is down in early Asian trading today, as investors scramble to buy Dollars amidst the uncertainty surrounding Greece.  Gold is up this morning in the European session by 0.57% and trading at 1741.15. Silver is also up in early trading today by 0.96% and trading at 34.028. Oil continues to inch closer to 100 Dollars per barrel, currently at 99.16 USD, an increase of 0.45%. Lower than expected oil reserves in the United States will continue to push oil up. The U.S. Department of Energy reported that oil inventories increased by just 0.03 million barrels last week, far below the predicted 2.5 million barrels.

U.S. Stocks climb yesterday

U.S. stock rose sharply yesterday, piggy backing on the hopes that a deal between the Greek government and the troika consisting of the IMF, ECB and European Commission is close to being sealed. The Dow Jones Industrial was up by 0.04% yesterday near the end of trading, while the Nasdaq Composite rose sharply by 0.41%.  European indices are on the decline this morning, with the DAX dropping by 0.08%, currently at 6748.76. The UK 100 is down by 0.30% at the time of this writing, at 5872.76.