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The German bunds plunged Friday after the country’s industrial production for the month of February disappointed market expectations, coming in lower than the previous reading in January.
The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, slid 1-1/2 basis points to 0.51 percent, the yield on 30-year note plunged 2 basis points to 1.17 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 1-1/2 basis points lower at -0.57 percent by 09:35GMT.
Following yesterday’s weak manufacturing orders and turnover data release, the sharp drop in German industrial output reported this morning was hardly a surprise. Total production fell by 1.6 percent m/m in February, the steepest drop in two and a half years. While energy production was up by 4.0 percent m/m after a decrease of a similar magnitude in January, other major components reported very significant dips, with manufacturing output notably falling for a third consecutive month, by 2.0 percent m/m.
Within the detail, production of capital goods was particularly disappointing, down 3.1 percent m/m, while production of consumer goods fell 1.5 percent m/m. In addition, construction output fell 2.2 percent m/m. With the January-February average level of total production down 0.1 percent from Q4, IP is highly likely to have slowed significantly from the 1.0 percent q/q pace seen in Q4.
And with German spending indicators for the first couple of months of the year also subdued, GDP growth in the largest euro area member state also appears to have slowed in Q1 from 0.6 percent q/q in Q4, Daiwa Capital Markets reported in its latest research.
Meanwhile, the German DAX slid nearly 1 percent to 12,206.46 by 09:40GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 14.99 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
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