German bunds remain mixed in subdued trade ahead of ECB’s account of monetary policy meeting

The German bunds remained mixed Wednesday in subdued trade as investors wait to watch the European Central Bank’s (ECB) account of the monetary policy meeting, scheduled to be released on January 11 by 12:30GMT.

The German 10-year bond yields, which move inversely to its price, rose 1 basis point to 0.46 percent, the yield on 30-year note also climbed 1 basis point to 1.32 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 1 basis point lower at -0.61 percent by 09:50GMT.

Following yesterday’s very strong German data – which saw total IP rising total output rising by 3.4 percent m/m, the biggest gain since September 2009, and manufacturing output up a whopping 4.3 percent m/m – this morning’s equivalent French figures saw moves in the opposite direction.

So, overall, industrial production was down 0.5 percent m/m, a relatively modest drop following the rise of 1.7 percent m/m in October. Indeed, looking through the monthly volatility, manufacturing output was up a robust 2.1 percent 3m/3m, with a similar rate of increase posted for total production.

And even if we see a similar decline in December to that which we saw in November – which might seem unlikely given the strength of the surveys from the sector that month (e.g. the French manufacturing PMI rose to the highest level since 2000) – manufacturing output would still have grown more than 1 percent q/q in Q4, providing a welcome boost to overall economic growth in the euro area’s second-largest member state. 

Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.39 percent to 13,333.50 by 09:55 GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained neutral at -73.39 (higher than +75 represents bullish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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