German bunds plummet ahead of January employment report, 5-year auction

The German bunds plummeted Monday as investors wait to watch the country’s employment report for the month of January and the 5-year auction, both scheduled to be unveiled on January 31 by 08:55GMT and 10:40GMT respectively.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, jumped 2-1/2 basis points to 0.65 percent, the yield on 30-year note surged nearly 2 basis points to 1.30 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year too climbed nearly 2-1/2 basis points to -0.52 percent by 08:40GMT.

In a busy week for new economic data, tomorrow will bring the ‘preliminary flash’ Q4 GDP estimates for the euro area and some major member states. Overall euro area growth is seen to come in at 0.7 percent q/q, unchanged from Q2 and Q3. Preliminary German inflation figures for the same month will also be released on Tuesday, and these will provide a preview of what can be expected the following day when the equivalent euro area figures will be released. While the core rate is forecast to remain unchanged at 0.9 percent, headline CPI should still head lower, from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent y/y. The euro area unemployment rate will also be released on Wednesday, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Separately, the coming week’s economic sentiment surveys seem bound to echo the messages of the various surveys published in the past week, which suggested that the euro area economy maintained robust momentum at the start of Q1. Certainly, the final January PMIs, due on Thursday, should closely align with the preliminary ones released last week, which suggested growth as strong as 1 percent q/q or more. And the European Commission’s survey, due on Tuesday, should also be very upbeat. Indeed, the headline economic sentiment index is expected to have inched higher to 116.1 this month, a new post-2000 high, while the preliminary consumer sentiment index, which showed an increase from 0.5 to 1.3, also the highest since 2000, will also most likely be confirmed.

Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.08 percent to 13,349.50 by 08:45 GMT, while at 08:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 12.56 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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