UK gilts remain tad higher despite better-than-expected jump in June retail sales

The United Kingdom’s gilts remained tad higher during European trading hours Thursday despite a better-than-expected jump in the country’s retail sales for the month of June.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, slipped 1 basis point to 0.750 percent, the 30-year yield rose also suffered 1 basis point to 1.372 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year also edged nearly 1 basis point down to 0.528 percent by 09:25GMT.

Britain’s monthly retail sales volumes jumped 1.0 percent, the Office for National Statistics said, well above all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that had pointed to a 0.3 percent drop. Compared with June 2018, sales were up by 3.8 percent, again stronger than all forecasts.

With Prime Minister-in-waiting Boris Johnson having over the past few weeks promised Conservative Party members lashings of budgetary largesse in terms of tax cuts and more public spending – while at the same time talking up the prospect of a highly damaging no-deal Brexit – the OBR’s Fiscal Risks report might also be worth watching today, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 remained tad -0.39 percent lower at 7,505.96 by 09:30GMT.