German fixed income futures trade a touch.....>

BUNDS: German fixed income futures trade a touch below settlement, with a

risk-on feel to Asia-Pacific hours adding some pressure.

- Schatz -1.5 ticks, Bobls -8.0 ticks, Bunds -24 ticks.

- ECB rhetoric continued on Thursday, with Praet confirming earlier source

reports which had suggested that ECB staff members were studying tiered deposit

rates, although this by no means guarantees that such measures would be

implemented (Praet noted that the Bank would have to have a MonPol case to

implement such measures).  Elsewhere, ECB's Villeroy noted that there is no need

for interest rates to move deeper into negative territory, while pointing to a

need to study ways to mitigate the effects of negative rates. Finally, ECB's

Knot suggested that the Bank should stay "far away" from a tiered rate system.

- Thursday also saw the release of softer than expected German CPI data.