German bunds tad higher ahead of January unemployment change, Eurozone CPI

The German bunds remained tad higher during European trading session Tuesday ahead of the country’s unemployment change for the month of January and eurozone’s consumer price inflation (CPI) for the similar period, scheduled to be released on January 30 and 31 by 08:55GMT and 10:00GMT respectively.

The German 10-year bond yield, which move inversely to its price, slipped 1 basis point to -0.397 percent, the long-term 30-year yield suffered nearly 2 basis points to 0.112 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year edged nearly 1 basis point down to -0.637 percent by 10:00GMT.

Most financial markets have fallen prey to the coronavirus, originated in China and latest reports suggest that there is no sign of the situation stabilising as estimates of the number of cases and fatalities continue to rise. The authorities are widening travel restrictions and companies are reported to be taking measures which include shutting shops and offices, Lloyds Bank reported.

There is no data of note in the Eurozone but a number of European Central Bank policymakers are scheduled to speak. They are unlikely to add much to last week’s post policy meeting update from ECB President Lagarde, which suggested that monetary policy may now be on hold for some time, the report added.

However, potentially of most interest will be the comments of Chief Economist Lane. He is set to talk about fiscal policy and so may provide ideas on how this could be used to boost trend economic growth, Lloyds Bank further noted in the report.

Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped -0.15 percent to 13,191.40 by 10:10GMT.