Gilts have opened lower taking cue from.......>

GILTS: Gilts have opened lower taking cue from soft US Treasuries and German

Bunds. Supply is also seen as weighing as UK tap 10-yr Gilt and German a 30-yr

Buxl. Curve is pivoting around the 10-yr sector as 10-yr trades at 1.474%, 3.5bp

higher on the day according to Tradeweb.

- Short sterling strip has also sold off this morning with curve steepening as

blue contracts fall 3 ticks despite BRC showing retail sales collapsing in

April.

- April like-for-like sales shrank 4.2% on the year, the worst outturn since

April 2005, compared to the 5.6% expansion in sales values in the same month of

2017. This years early Easter was a likely contributor but figures continued to

signal depressed discretionary spending appetites across UK households.