EGBs-GILTS CASH CLOSE: BTPs Outperform

Though few themes stood out Thursday, core FI was in favour in the afternoon, handily reversing early losses. Gilts saw steady gains all day with bull flattening in the curve, outperforming Bunds.

• Italy outperformed in the space as a whole, though beyond BTPs, periphery EGB spreads were mixed.
• German Feb factory orders data missed slightly. Little impact from ECB meeting minutes (Gov Council saw broad consensus for PEPP pace pickup). BoE's Tenreyro told the FT that negative rates would work in the UK.
• Today saw supply from Spain, France and the UK. EU sent an RfP for E5bn in funding in coming weeks.
• Friday sees some industrial production / retail sales data, and ECB's de Guindos speaks.

Closing yields/10-Yr Spreads to Bunds:

• Germany: The 2-Yr yield is down 1.1bps at -0.714%, 5-Yr is down 1.1bps at -0.668%, 10-Yr is down 1.2bps at -0.336%, and 30-Yr is down 0.7bps at 0.224%.
• UK: The 2-Yr yield is down 1.8bps at 0.046%, 5-Yr is down 1.8bps at 0.34%, 10-Yr is down 2.4bps at 0.749%, and 30-Yr is down 3.1bps at 1.284%.
• Italian BTP spread down 1.9bps at 99.8bps / Spanish spread up 0.4bps at 67bps