We have not seen huge moves in STIR markets....>

STIR: We have not seen huge moves in STIR markets today, but relative to the

rest of this week it has been a busier day.

- After a mildly risk-off start to the day, risk appetite took a turn for the

worse with the release of the European Commissions new forecasts. The highlight

here was Italian growth for 2019 being downgraded to 0.2%. BTPs rallied and the

Euribor futures strip followed higher. Whites are within 0.5 ticks of yesterdays

close but we have seen the rest of the curve flatten with Reds up 0.5-3 ticks,

Greens up 4-5 ticks and Blues up 5-5.5 ticks on the day.

- The short sterling strip has been gradually moving higher today with the Bank

of England meeting the highlight of the day. The meeting and press conference

had a bit of a dovish tilt with some minor downgrades to forecasts. However,

Brexit uncertainty continues to overshadow monetary policy and until there is

some resolution, policy is likely to remain on hold. Most of the strip is 3.5-4

ticks higher on the day.

- The Eurodollar strip has moved higher in sympathy and in line with the general

risk-off tone with the strip mostly 3-3.5 ticks higher on the day.