SWITZERLAND: Retail Sales Overall Solid, Up For Positive Q1 GDP Contribution

There are some glimmers of hope in the EZ PMI print (hope that we are bottoming out rather than hope of improvement!) The following highlights from the press release:

• Output: "Only marginal overall, the expansion was the first in two years and the most marked since May 2022."
• "Production growth was accomplished despite a further monthly fall in volumes of incoming new business."
• "New factory orders fell in March, as they have done continuously for almost three years, but the rate of decline was the weakest over this period. Export* markets remained a drag on sales performances, with demand from foreign clients decreasing further. That said, the pace of contraction was the softest since April 2022."
• "Industrial business conditions remained challenging elsewhere, although there were some tentative signs of recovery, particularly in the currency union’s big-two economies of Germany and France as Manufacturing PMI figures here were the highest for 31 and 26 months, respectively."

The modest tilt lower in the final Eurozone manufacturing PMI and a downtick in crude oil futures lends further support to bonds. TY & bund futures are still shy of yesterday’s highs, while gilts have broken their Monday peak, registering a fresh session high in recent trade.

SFIU5 96.00/96.10cs v 95.50/95.40ps, sold the cs at 3.5 in 4k.