By: Barbara Zigah

The Greek government managed to survive a confidence vote in Parliament, helping send the Euro briefly higher. A round of profit taking afterward brought the common currency back down but it has since rebounded slightly, trading at 1.4415, up 0.1% at 2:41 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo. Earlier in the trading session, the, Euro struck a high of $1.4435 before slipping back to an intraday low of $1.4345.

The vote of confidence in the Greek Parliament suggests to markets players that there is a stronger likelihood that the legislation for the newest austerity measures will be approved. If the government is unable to get that legislation passed, however, that will put the July E.U./IMF tranche payment in jeopardy as it is a prerequisite to disbursal.

Markets will refocus their attention to the United States where the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee concludes their 2-day rate setting meeting. Most analysts don’t foresee Chairman Bernanke making any changes to the current ultra low policy given the softness of the recovery over the last several weeks. What will be of great interest, however, is the exit strategy for the Fed’s quantitative easing policy which is expected to conclude this month. The issue as to whether a QE3 is likely is at the fore of most market players’ consciousness.