EGBs-GILTS CASH CLOSE: Peripheries Underperform To Conclude Short Week

European FI closed a holiday-shortened week Thursday with a flat-to-softer performance in which periphery spreads noticeably widened.

• Hawkish commentary from the Fed's Waller and BoE's Haskel set a negative tone for global core FI, and helped spur underperformance in periphery EGBs.
• Bunds and Gilts pared losses in the afternoon, helped by softer-than-expected US data (including MNI Chicago PMI), with some support potentially coming from month-end extensions.
• The German curve twist flattened on the day, with the UK's bear flattening.
• 10Y BTP spreads to Bunds closed at their widest level in 3 weeks, having now widened by over 21bp from the March lows.
• While markets are closed Friday, there are still key data releases, namely flash March inflation prints for France and Italy, ahead of next week's German and Eurozone-wide reports.

Closing Yields / 10-Yr Periphery EGB Spreads To Germany

• Germany: The 2-Yr yield is up 1.9bps at 2.848%, 5-Yr is up 0.8bps at 2.321%, 10-Yr is up 0.6bps at 2.298%, and 30-Yr is down 0.1bps at 2.455%.
• UK: The 2-Yr yield is up 2.8bps at 4.172%, 5-Yr is up 0.6bps at 3.823%, 10-Yr is up 0.1bps at 3.933%, and 30-Yr is up 0.2bps at 4.424%.
• Italian BTP spread up 6.2bps at 138.3bps / Spanish bond up 2.1bps at 86.4bps