German fixed income futures have stuck to.....>

BUNDS: German fixed income futures have stuck to tight ranges thus far, with the

3 major contracts printing at unchanged levels at writing.

- Thursday saw the space came under pressure from stronger than expected U.S.

data and the ensuing sell-off in Tsys, with Bunds underperforming peripheral

counterparts.

- Elsewhere, German EU-harmonised CPI came in unch. at +1.7% Y/Y, meeting exp.,

headline CPI marginally beat exp., printing at +1.6% Y/Y.

- Traders alluded to a thinktank report which pointed to the ECB soon pushing

out its forward guidance re: rate rises, to well into 2020 vs. the current

through the summer of 2019. The piece also suggested that Draghi would hint that

a TLTRO is on its way but reveal the design at a future meeting. This is in

essence much the same as the MNI policy team's take on matters, although they

are looking for the removal of any finite time constraints from the forward

guidance in the coming months.

- EZ focus today turns to EZ CPI & unemployment, as well as m'fing PMI data from

across the EZ.