German bunds jump ahead of ECB’s monetary policy meeting

The German bunds jumped during European trading session Thursday ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy meeting, scheduled to be held today by 12:45GMT, followed by the bank’s press conference, due at 13:30GMT.

The German 10-year bond yield, which move inversely to its price, slumped 2 basis points to -0.280 percent, the long-term 30-year yield suffered 1-1/2 basis points to 0.231 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year remained tad down at -0.595 percent by 10:20GMT.

The main event in the euro area today will be ECB’s latest Governing Council policy announcement and press conference, only the second for new President Christine Lagarde. But this seems likely to be relatively uneventful, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

There seems no reason whatsoever for a change of monetary policy or forward guidance. And with no new economic forecasts to be published, the Governing Council’s overall assessment of economic conditions will not change substantively either, the report added.

"We would expect Lagarde again to take comfort from signs of stabilisation in the growth slowdown and note a mild increase in underlying inflation in line with previous expectations. And, as in December, she might judge the downside risks to the economic outlook from events abroad to have become even less skewed to the downside", Daiwa further commented in the report.

Meanwhile, the German DAX edged tad -0.36 percent down to 13,468.68 by 10:25GMT.