German bunds slip in muted trading session ahead of February manufacturing PMI, unemployment change

The German bunds remained nearly flat during European session Wednesday ahead of the country’s manufacturing PMI and unemployment change for the for the month of February, due to be released on March 1 by 08:55GMT.

Besides, Germany and eurozone’s consumer price inflation (CPI) for the month of February, scheduled to be released on February 28 and March 1 respectively will add further direction to the debt market.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, remained 1 basis point higher at 0.125 percent, the yield on 30-year note also edged 1 basis point higher at 0.753 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded flat at -0.549 percent by 08:50GMT.

Today will bring the European Commission’s business and consumer confidence survey results for the present month. While last week’s flash consumer confidence indicator for the euro area registered a larger-than-expected increase of 0.5pt to-7.4 – an improvement that likely principally reflected developments in France – that still left it below the Q4 average, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

And, consistent with the findings of the German Ifo indices if not the flash euro area PMIs, the Commission’s euro area business climate indicator is expected to decline to a two-year low to leave the headline economic sentiment index little changed from January’s 25-month low. ECB bank lending data for January are also due today, the report added.

In the bond markets, Germany will sell 10-year Bunds while Italy will sell BTPs due 2023 and 2029 as well as floating-rate notes due 2025. 

Meanwhile, the German DAX remained 0.63 percent lower at 11,465.01 by 08:55GMT, while at 08:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 12.85 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex