EGBs-GILTS CASH CLOSE: Afternoon Relief

European bond yields rose sharply at the open as part of a global move Thursday, but the sell-off paused for breath in the afternoon and yields closed below session highs.

• Gilts knee-jerked lower following the BoE decision (unchanged as expected) announcement at 1200GMT, and then rebounded as the BoE didn't slow down the pace of QE (as some had expected it might).
• Periphery spreads compressed for most of the session.
• The European Medicines Agency gave its backing to the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.
• A pretty light Friday calendar lies ahead, with a few speakers (ECB's Panetta and Vasle, and BOE's Cunliffe), but little data.

Closing yields/10-Yr Spreads to Bunds:

• Germany: The 2-Yr yield is unchanged at -0.685%, 5-Yr is up 0.6bps at -0.618%, 10-Yr is up 2.7bps at -0.264%, and 30-Yr is up 4.6bps at 0.301%.
• UK: The 2-Yr yield is down 0.1bps at 0.11%, 5-Yr is up 2.2bps at 0.419%, 10-Yr is up 4.5bps at 0.875%, and 30-Yr is up 4.7bps at 1.405%.
• Italian BTP spread down 3.5bps at 95.3bps / Spanish spread down 2.9bps at 63.9bps