German bunds tad lower after February unemployment change, Eurozone CPI improves

The German bunds remained tad lower during European session Friday following the improvement in the country’s unemployment statistics for the month of February, coupled with a rise in eurozone’s consumer price inflation (CPI) for the similar month.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, remained tad higher at 0.190 percent, the yield on 30-year note rose nearly 1 basis point to 0.817 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year hovered around -0.538 percent by 10:20GMT.

In Germany, the number of people out of work decreased by 21,000 to 2.236 million, seasonally-adjusted data showed. That compared with the forecast for a drop of 5,000. The unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent, the lowest since German reunification in 1990.

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 1.5 percent in February 2019, up from 1.4 percent in January, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in February (3.5 percent, compared with 2.7 percent in January), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (2.4 percent, compared with 1.8 percent in January), services (1.3 percent, compared with 1.6 percent in January) and non-energy industrial goods (0.3 percent, stable compared with January).

Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 1 percent to 11,632.27 by 10:25GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at -29.48 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex