Gilts have traded in a fairly..........>

GILT SUMMARY: Gilts have traded in a fairly directionless manner over Thursday,

though have moved off early lows.

- The Dec 18 Gilt future is down 11 ticks at 120.96, near the top of today's

range of 120.73-121.04. Weak retail sales data released earlier was basically

shrugged off.

- Fairly limited movement in the cash curve in the end as well, with the 2-Yr

yield down 0.6bps at 0.797%, 5-Yr unchanged at 1.144%, 10-Yr up 0.5bps at 1.58%,

and 30-Yr up 0.8bps at 1.969%.

- Short Sterling futures off toward the end of the strip, Mar22 and Jun22

weakest, off 2 ticks.

- Little news out of the EU summit that suggests a Brexit deal is imminent;

looks like ongoing wrangling over a potential transitional arrangement extension

will dominate near-term conversation, with a potential November EU summit on

Brexit apparently shelved for the time being due to lack of progress.