German bunds rise after disappointment from May unemployment report; April retail sales eyed

The German bunds gained during European trading session Wednesday after investors turned gloomy following a disappointing jobless report for the month of May, while eyes still remain on the upcoming retail sales data for the month of April, due to be released on May 31 by 06:00GMT for further direction in the debt market.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, slipped nearly 1-1/2 basis points to -0.165 percent, the yield on 30-year note also edged 1-1/2 basis points lower to 0.479 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded flat at -0.645 percent by 10:10GMT.

Germany’s jobless rate, to everyone’s surprise, rose for the first time in nearly two years, as the number of people who opted out of work rose by 60,000 to 2.279 million in seasonally adjusted terms, according to data released by the Federal Labour Office Wednesday,  compared with a Reuters consensus forecast for a decline of 8,000.

Further, the data showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 5.0 percent, and in unadjusted terms, unemployment increased by 7,000 to 2.236 million in May.

Meanwhile, the German DAX suffered -1.16 percent to trade at 11,889.40 by 10:20GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at -9.73 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex