UK gilts flat in silent trading as investors await BoE member Haldane’s speech

The UK gilts remained flat Friday as investors are awaiting the Bank of England (BoE) member Haldane’s speech, scheduled to be held today by 12:00GMT amid a silent trading session that witnessed no data of any economic significance.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, hovered around 1.38 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields flat at 1.96 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year also traded 1 basis point lower at 0.45 percent by 10:15 GMT.

Investor worries regarding Spain seemingly eased on Thursday, which along with some reasonable data and positive Fed commentary saw US equities and the US dollar post gains. 

All eyes data wise will, of course, be in the US, with the release of the labor market report for September. Not least due to the impact of the hurricanes, this is expected show the weakest increase in non-farm payrolls since March, although average hourly earnings growth – a key barometer for the Fed – is expected to tick slightly higher, and the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.4 percent. US wholesale trade and inventory data for August are also due along with consumer credit figures for August.

Elsewhere, it will be a relatively uneventful end to the week for data from the euro area, with German factory orders already out coming in much stronger than expected. The French trade deficit is expected to have narrowed slightly from July’s five-month high, but remain sizeable at close to EUR5.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 traded 0.21 percent higher at 7,523.75 by 10:20 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained highly bearish at -166.05 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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