German bunds suffer despite fall in eurozone’s retail sales, ECB President Lagarde’s speech eyed

The German bunds suffered during European trading session Wednesday even as the eurozone’s retail sales for the month of December, released today disappointed market sentiments, also reversing previous gains in November ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde’s speech, also due to be delivered today by 12:15GMT.

The German 10-year bond yield, which move inversely to its price, jumped nearly 3-1/2 basis points to -0.372 percent, the long-term 30-year yield also surged nearly 3-1/2 basis points to 0.144 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year remained tad 1 basis point higher at -0.643 percent by 10:45GMT.

In December 2019 compared with November, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade decreased by 1.6 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.3 percent in the EU27, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In November 2019, the retail trade volume increased by 0.8 percent in the euro area and by 0.9 percent in the EU27.

In December 2019 compared with same period a year ago, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 1.3 percent in the euro area and by 1.9 percent in the EU27. The average retail trade for the year 2019, compared with 2018, rose by 2.2 percent in the euro area and by 2.4 percent in EU27.

Meanwhile, the German DAX jumped 1.19 percent to trade at 13,441.34 by 10:50GMT.