The 10-year OAT/Bund spread is 3bps tighter on the session at 83bps, amid hopes that French caretaker PM Lecornu will be able to gain enough support to pass a budget in last minute talks today.
- Lecornu is meeting with the Socialist and Green parties this morning. Reports overnight suggested that some in the Macronist bloc may be willing to suspend recent pension reforms as a concession to the left. A deal with the left would reduce near-term political uncertainty in France, but suspension of pension reform would keep domestic public finances on a damaging trajectory. Medium-term risks to OAT/Bund may still be skewed wider.
- EGB curves have bull flattened as a result of the cautious political optimism, with OAT 5s30s down 1bp to 155bps and German 5s30s down 0.5bps to 99bps.
- Futures volumes have been healthy, with ASML equity weakness also supporting the broader FI bid around the European cash equity open. German industrial production was much weaker-than-expected earlier (-4.3% M/M vs -1.0% cons, 1.3% prior)
- Bund futures are +25 ticks at 128.77, with initial resistance of 128.82 containing early upside. OAT futures are +48 ticks at 121.48.
- Germany will hold a 15-year Bund auction at 1030BST, while the ESM has sent an RFP for an upcoming transaction. We pencil in a transaction early next week of around E1.75bln (E1.5-2.0bln.
- Headlines from ECB’s Escriva were broadly consistent with the median Governing Council view (i.e. rates are appropriate at current levels for now, meeting-by-meeting approach with no forward guidance) and his previous comments.