German bunds jump after December manufacturing PMI remains unchanged; eyes on December unemployment change

The German bunds jumped during European session Wednesday after the country’s manufacturing PMI for the month of December, released today, remained unchanged, also meet market expectations.

Investors will now look forward to the country’s unemployment change data, for December, scheduled to be released on January 4 by 08:55GMT for further direction in the debt market, besides the Eurozone’s consumer price inflation (CPI) data for the similar period, also due on the same day by 10:00GMT.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, fell 2 basis points to 0.388 percent, the yield on 30-year note also slipped nearly 2 basis points to 1.037 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year lost nearly 1-1/2 basis points to -0.643 percent by 09:00GMT.

The headline IHS Markit/BME Germany Manufacturing PMI – a single-figure snapshot of the performance of the manufacturing economy – slipped to 51.5 in December, down from 51.8 in November and its lowest reading since March 2016.

It marked the eleventh time that the index had fallen in 2018, down from a record high in December 2017. The performance of the sector continued to be undermined by falling inflows of new orders. December's decrease was the third in as many months and the steepest since November 2014.

Surveyed businesses highlighted increased cautiousness among clients and cited subdued demand in the automotive industry. New export orders showed the steepest fall for six years, with a number of firms reporting lower sales to China.

Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.91 percent to 10,462.03 by 09:10GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at -31.28 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex