May 29 – Euro zone government bond yields inched up on Thursday, as investors ditched safe havens for riskier assets after a U.S. federal court blocked most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Investors moved away from bonds, gold, and safe-haven currencies such as the yen and Swiss franc after the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade found on Wednesday that Trump overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from the United States’ trading partners.
The Trump administration has appealed the ruling.
Germany’s 10-year government bond yield, the euro area benchmark, rose 4 basis points to around 2.59%. It fell to around 2.51% on Tuesday, its lowest level since May 8.
“For bonds and FX, the timing is convenient for an extension of the most recent trading momentum, where the dollar has already shown signs of rebounding and long-end bond yields have been facing upward pressure,” said Frances Cheung, head of FX and rates strategy at Singapore-based OCBC.
Long-term bond yields have risen this month on growing concern about rising debt levels among big economies such as the United States and Japan.
German 30-year government bond yields edged up 2 bps to around 3.07%, while the 2-year government bond yield , more sensitive to European Central Bank policy rates, rose 3 bps to 1.83%.
Markets have fully priced in a 25-bps interest rate cut from the ECB when it meets next week.
They also indicated a deposit facility rate at 1.72% in December, from 1.55% in mid-April.
Italy’s 10-year yield rose 3 bps to 3.57%, leaving the spread between Italian and German yields around 97 bps.
“Development on tariff and trade relations remains fluid. Investors may be reluctant to load heavy positions on either side of the trade,” Cheung added.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
