It was a case of sideways trading for...>

EGB SUMMARY: It was a case of sideways trading for the Bund until the Gary Cohn

resignation rumours started flying around. Once these began, the market became

hostage to a will he/won't flip flop trading pattern. Equities were also

weakening through this process.

- The morning's trade had to cope with the final release of the Eurozone HICP

data, which printed in line with the flash estimate and strong UK retail sales.

- The ECB meeting accounts were more notable in that references were made to the

strength of the euro and how "it was generally judged paramount at this stage to

avoid sending signals that could be prone to over-interpretation and might prove

premature". 

- Over the past few days/weeks, there has been a thematic widening the German to

semi-core spreads but a tightening in German-peripheral spreads and this was the

case on Thursday. 

- Generally, EGB yields were lower, the Bund yield was down around 1.6bp at

0.429%. The Bund-PGB spread was the big mover, with a 4bp contraction to 234bp

and sitting at a 19 month low.