German bunds jump following worse-than-expected Q4 economic growth

The German bunds jumped during afternoon session Thursday following worse-than-expected economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2019, also falling from the previous reading.

The German 10-year bond yield, which move inversely to its price, fell 1 basis point to -0.398 percent, the long-term 30-year yield also edged tad 1 basis point down to 0.121 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year too remained 1 basis point lower at -0.655 percent by 11:30GMT.

Germany’s economy avoided contraction in the fourth quarter of 2019 but only just. GDP in Q4 was unchanged from Q3 to be up just 0.4 percent y/y on a calendar-adjusted basis. And given the decline in Q2, the level of GDP in Q4 was still marginally below that in Q1. Thanks to back revisions, however, full-year growth was revised up by 0.1ppt to 0.6 percent y/y, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.  

No detailed arithmetic for the various expenditure components was published today. However, the German statistical agency stated that household and government consumption slowed markedly in Q4.

And investment in machinery and equipment fell sharply. In contrast, investment in construction and other fixed assets reportedly continued to increase. That, however, jars somewhat with last week’s construction data, which reported a drop of 1.9 percent q/q in the sector last quarter. Meanwhile, in volume terms, exports fell slightly while imports picked up to suggest that net trade subtracted from economic growth, the report added.

Meanwhile, the German DAX traded tad 0.25 percent higher at 13,779.39 by 11:35GMT.