Core EGBs look to have maintained.......>

EGB SUMMARY: Core EGBs look to have maintained most of their post-US Fed gains,

while periphery spreads have widened as Italy announced a bond swap.

- German curve has bull flattened, cash 10-Yr looking at closing near record

lows. The 2-Yr yield is down 2.1bps at -0.758%, 5-Yr is down 2.4bps at -0.661%,

10-Yr is down 3.2bps at -0.32%, and 30-Yr is down 4.1bps at 0.252%.

- Semi-core up as well: Sep OAT futures up 48 ticks at 164.55 (H: 164.68)

- Issuance is done for the week, but Italy announced Concambio for Friday: will

buy back 5 bonds for E2.5bln in exchange for Feb-28 BTP.

- This exacerbated the retracement in Italian spreads which had compressed for

most of the day: 10-Yr/Bunds widened 11.5bps between 1400-1530UK time.

- Italy / German 10-Yr spread last 2.4bps wider at 242.1bps.

- Greece hugely underperformed (10-Yr spread 12.3bps wider), no trigger seen

though notably has been weaker alongside Italy.

- Spain and Portugal hanging in there, <1.0bps wider.

- Euribor strip seeing a little bull flattening, Greens-Golds up 2-2.5 ticks.

- Flash PMIs (FR, DE, EU) highlight the Eurozone calendar Friday.