German bunds trade steady after July manufacturing PMI beats estimates; ECB’s interest rate decision in focus

The German bunds traded steady after the country’s manufacturing PMI for the month of July, beat market expectations. Investors will now focus on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy decision, due to be unveiled on July 26 by 11:45GMT for further direction in the debt market.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, remained tad higher at 0.40 percent, the yield on 30-year note slipped 1 basis point to 1.06 percent and the yield on short-term 3-year steadied at -0.48 percent by 09:35GMT.

The IHS Markit Flash manufacturing PMI improved to a three-month high of 57.3 in July, from 55.9 in June. The rise in the index reflected stronger increases in output, new orders and stocks of purchases, as well as a greater incidence of supply chain delays.

Further, the country’s IHS Markit Flash composite output index rose to 55.2 in July from 54.8 in June, to signal a second successive monthly acceleration in the rate of growth in private sector business activity. The implied expansion was the fastest since February, but remained below the strong trend shown over 2017.

While the conclusion of the latest Governing Council meeting at the ECB is by far the most important economic event in the euro area this week, releases of the latest economic sentiment surveys will also be watched closely for any clues as to how the euro area economy is faring at the start of Q3, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Meanwhile, the German DAX jumped 1.48 percent to 12,734.80 by 09:40GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -88.77 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex