German bunds slump despite disappointment in April manufacturing PMI; eurozone April CPI in focus

The German bunds slumped during European trading session Thursday after investors have largely shrugged-off the lower-than-expected fall in the country’s manufacturing PMI for the month of April, released today.

Investors will now be awaiting the eurozone’s consumer price inflation (CPI) data for the month of April, scheduled to be released on May 3 by 09:00GMT for further direction in the debt market.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, rose nearly 1 basis point to 0.021 percent, the yield on 30-year note surged 1-1/2 basis points to 0.666 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded tad higher at -0.595 percent by 09:15GMT.

The headline IHS Markit/BME Germany Manufacturing PMI – a single-figure snapshot of the performance of the manufacturing economy – registered 44.4 in April, up marginally from March's 80-month low of 44.1.

The slight uptick in the headline PMI at the start of the second quarter was due in part to a slower fall in output. However, the rate of contraction was still marked overall and the second-quickest seen in over six-and-a-half years. The main area of weakness on the production front was the investment goods sector, which showed an accelerated decline.

Meanwhile, the German DAX remained tad 0,39 percent higher at 12,392.24 by 09:20GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at 59.11 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex