###POV. EUROPEAN ISSUANCE IS WELL AHEAD...>

EGB FLOWS: ###POV. EUROPEAN ISSUANCE IS WELL AHEAD OF SCHEDULE.

- By the end of today, year-to-date issuance in the EGB market (in cash rather

than nominal terms) will be 206.5bln vs E201.2bln at the same point in 2017.

- This may not initially look like front-loading but MNI sees gross issuance of

E849bln in 2018, much less than the E918bln issued in 2017. This suggests that

debt management offices are well ahead of plans on aggregate. Crunching the

numbers, issuance might be 11% lighter in Mar-Dec than last year.

- In Bund contract equivalents, 2018 YTD is running just slightly below 2017

with 1,335mln contracts compared to 1,352mln last year.

- With 25% of estimated issuance already done, the issuance outlook is

favourable for bonds even if PSPP buying may be more modest. Furthermore,

bidding at auctions has stepped up a level since September last year based upon

bid-cover ratios.