Euro sinks to 2-week lows after Greece said it may miss a debt repayment

The euro slid to two-week lows on Wednesday after a Greek official said the country may miss a debt repayment, while U.S. and European equity markets held close to recent highs as traders awaited signals on Federal Reserve interest rate shifts.

U.S. Treasuries inched up on safe-haven buying caused by worries that Greece may be unable to make a 300 million euro repayment to the International Monetary Fund on June 5 unless foreign lenders distribute more aid.

The dollar gained for a third day, though many currency traders kept to the sidelines before the release of minutes from the Fed’s April meeting of monetary policymakers.

The Greek government’s parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday that Athens will not make the June 5 payment unless it has reached a deal with its creditors.

The euro last traded off 0.40 percent against the dollar at $1.11 after touching a low of $1.1063.

The dollar index .DXY advanced 0.43 percent, in part because of a 0.35 percent rise against the Japanese yen JPY= that took the dollar over 121 yen for the first time in two months.

Wall Street was mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 4.32 points, or 0.02 percent, to 18,316.71, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.23 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,127.6 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC declined losing 1.02 points, or 0.02 percent, to 5,069.01.

Trading was muted before the 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) release of the details of the Fed’s April meeting. The central bank has said it will raise rates only when data suggests that the economy is strengthening. Growth slowed to a crawl in the first quarter, and recent data has been mixed.

“There is a consensus that the Fed probably doesn’t move until September and I don’t think that will change today,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

European shares, after Tuesday’s 1.65 percent surge, paused for breath on Wednesday, unable to get much of a boost from the euro’s weakness.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading shares was up 0.46 percent at 1613 points .FTEU3, while Germany’s DAX .GDAXI, France’s CAC 40 .FCHI and Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE were up around 0.2 percent.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury US10YT=RR last yielded 2.2567 percent, reflecting a price gain of 2/32.