German bunds narrowly mixed ahead of Eurogroup meeting, Q1 GDP

The German bunds traded narrowly mixed Monday ahead of a meeting of the Eurogroup ministers later in the day. Also, investors remain focused to watch the country’s first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data, scheduled to be released on May 23 for further direction in the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 0.38 percent, the long-term 30-year bond yields rose 1 basis point to 1.21 percent while the yield on the short-term 2-year bond traded nearly 1 basis point lower at -0.68 percent by 08:40 GMT.

With developments in the US continuing to dominate market attention, today’s meeting of euro-area finance ministers is only likely to offer a minor distraction. Late last week, the Greek parliament approved a new round of austerity measures, paving the way for Eurogroup finance ministers to conclude the second review of its bailout program at today’s meeting.

Hard data releases include the second estimates of German and Spanish Q1 GDP, due tomorrow on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. But they are unlikely to bring any notable changes from the preliminary readings; growth is likely to remain unrevised in both countries, at 0.6 percent q/q and 0.8 percent q/q respectively. Beyond the data-flow, ECB President Draghi will be speaking on Wednesday at a Madrid conference on financial stability.

Meanwhile, the German stock index DAX Index rose 0.09 percent to 12,650.00 by 08:50 GMT, while at 08:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at -45.70 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex