NATO: Rutte In Washington Amid Faltering Ukraine Peace Process
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow, holding talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. While the agenda for the meeting is not yet public, the apparent faltering of the US' commitment to reaching a peace deal in Ukraine is likely to dominate proceedings. Meeting due to get underway at 1500ET (2000BST, 2100CET).
- Earlier this week, Rubio pulled out of talks at late notice in London that were intended to bring together the foreign ministers of the US, UK, France, Germany, and Ukraine in a move viewed by many as a deliberate snub. Last week, Rubio said the US could "move on" if there was not quick progress.
- The meeting comes as President Donald Trump is set to meet Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Store at the White House later today (see 'NATO: Trump To Meet Norwegian PM, Arctic And Ukraine In Focus', 1003BST).
- Hardline comments from Trump and VP JD Vance ('SECURITY: Trump & Vance Take Hard Line On Zelenskyy In Statements On Ukraine War', 1722BST 23 Apr) have raised concerns among other NATO members that Kyiv could be forced into accepting a 'bad deal' that leaves Ukraine and NATO's eastern flank vulnerable in the long term, or left on its own to fight without US military and financial backing.
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US TSY FUTURES: Net Short Setting Most Prominent On Monday
OI data points to net short setting in most contracts during Monday’s downtick in futures, with the broader theme only interrupted by modest net long cover in TY futures.
- The largest net DV01 equivalent positioning swing came via short setting in US futures.
| 24-Mar-25 | 21-Mar-25 | Daily OI Change | OI DV01 Equivalent Change ($) |
TU | 3,848,401 | 3,835,758 | +12,643 | +489,547 |
FV | 6,332,681 | 6,307,088 | +25,593 | +1,112,040 |
TY | 4,879,218 | 4,888,778 | -9,560 | -620,011 |
UXY | 2,291,113 | 2,281,383 | +9,730 | +861,943 |
US | 1,809,868 | 1,800,598 | +9,270 | +1,198,301 |
WN | 1,780,391 | 1,775,225 | +5,166 | +992,103 |
|
| Total | +52,842 | +4,033,923 |
AUSTRIA T-BILL AUCTION RESULTS: 4-Month RATB / 6-Month Green RATB
| Type | 4-month ATB | 6-month Green ATB |
| Maturity | Jul 24, 2025 | Sep 25, 2025 |
| Allotted | E803mln | E704mln |
| Previous | E822mln | E1.696bln |
| Amount | E1bln | E750mln |
| Target | E1bln | E0.75bln |
| Previous | E1bln | E2bln |
| Avg yield | 2.250% | 2.170% |
| Previous | 2.410% | 2.310% |
| Bid-to-cover | 1.78x | 2.18x |
| Previous | 2.76x | 1.9x |
| Bid-to-offer | 1.43x | 2.05x |
| Previous | 2.27x | 1.61x |
| Previous date | Jan 28, 2025 | Feb 25, 2025 |
GILT AUCTION RESULTS: Reasonably Soft 20-year Gilt Auction
The 0.5bp tail at today’s 4.75% Oct-43 Gilt auction was the widest of the eight re-openings for this line (previous range 0.1-0.4bps). Meanwhile, this was the first auction for this line that saw a bid-to-cover of below 3.00x (2.97x at today’s auction, average across the seven prior re-openings: 3.42x).
The secondary market price of the Gilt has fallen to 94.212 since the auction results were published (vs a lowest accepted price of 94.263 and a pre-auction mid-price of 94.230).
