By: Barbara Zigah

As has seemingly been the norm, the Euro is poised to move lower against the U.S. Dollar as Greek debt concerns continue to weigh. If analysts’ forecasts are correct and the Euro closes lower today, that will make the third such weekly decline in the common currency. This news come ahead of the release of a report that is expected to show that Germany’s business sentiment is seeing some declines. One market strategist in Sydney forecasts that the Euro is likely to move significantly lower over the next six months, because he believes that Greece’s problems are likely to take months, if not years, to be resolved.

July 3rd will be the next date that the European Union’s finance ministers will meet to discuss whether or not Greece has met the prerequisite conditions of its loan agreement with the E.U./IMF in order to receive the next tranche payment. Eurozone policymakers stressed the importance of Greece’s passage of new austerity measures which would allow the joint mission to provide more aid.

In Tokyo trade as reported at 2:45 p.m. (JST), the Euro was trading against the greenback at $1.4261, on track for a 0.3% weekly decline. Against the Japanese Yen, the Euro was trading at 114.80 Yen, down from 114.78 Yen in New York’s late trading.