Financial markets ended the week digesting Thursday’s ECB rate decision. If investors initially interpreted Lagarde’s speech as implying a slightly dovish bias going forward, several ECB officials pushed back against such interpretations on Friday, pushing European sovereign bond yields up, peripheral spreads to widen, and a steepening of the curve.

Investors began the week focused on Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and weighing the impact of the steady rise in crude oil prices, with the Brent benchmark rising a further 0.7% during the session. In this context, European sovereign bond yields rose across the board, as did US short-term benchmarks.

During yesterday’s session investors largely digested the Fed’s hawkish pause on Wednesday, positioning further into the narrative of a soft landing for the US economy and higher interest rates for longer. Thus European and US government bond yields rose in the medium and long term, and either fell or remained unchanged in the short term.

Financial markets ended the week giving mixed signals from both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, flash PMI data for September showed a slight improvement in business activity, albeit still signalling economic contraction amid a weak German manufacturing sector, pushing up government bond yields and dragging most equity indices lower.

Stock markets advanced in the US, Europe and Asia while sovereign yields remained stable. In Spain, markets underperformed their peers as stocks declined and sovereign spreads rose.

Yesterday's session was filled with economic data releases. In the US, Q2 2023 GDP revision left growth unchanged from previous estimates at 2.1% SAAR, and personal consumption had its slowest increase in a year. In Europe, September inflation in Germany eased to 4.5% y/y from 6.1% in August but ticked up in Spain to 3.5% from 2.6%.

Investors traded with a slightly higher risk appetite on Friday as several key inflation data points on both sides of the Atlantic fell and despite the risk of a US government shutdown, which was eventually averted over the weekend, rose. Eurozone inflation fell to a 2-year low, with core CPI showing positive momentum and US core PCE also moderating.

In yesterday’s session, economic sentiment data releases were the focus of investors’ attention. In both Europe and the US, better-than-expected, but still weak economic data, pushed sovereign yields down on both sides of the Atlantic amid an upward trend in previous sessions.

The week started off with a volatile session as markets await key economic data this week (PMIs for advanced economies and US 3Q GDP), 3Q euro area Bank Lending Survey, the ECB's rate decision, further 3Q earnings, and news from the Middle East.

Volatility rose during the last session of the week amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, mixed corporate earnings, and expectations of the FOMC meeting later this week. Stocks fell across the globe, with US and European stock indices entering “correction” territory after falling 10%  their most recent peak in July.

In yesterday’s session markets were mixed across the globe in a day without major economic news. Sovereign bond yields rose on both sides of the Atlantic after days of declines, with euro periphery countries’ yields posting the largest increases and risk premia widening.

In yesterday’s session, investors traded cautiously amid mixed comments from central bank officials regarding interest rates’ paths ahead. In the euro area, ECB Chief economist Phillip Lane said that not enough progress has been accomplished in bringing inflation back to 2% and some other members did not rule out an additional rate hike.

In yesterday's session sovereign bonds took center stage once again. Yields extended their declines both in the euro area and in the US, where higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims pointed to a cooling labor market and gave investors further reasons to believe the Federal Reserve is done hiking rates.

Investors remained trading cautiously yesterday, as they still expect no further tightening of monetary policy and as economic data came in slightly better than expected. In the eurozone, the consumer sentiment indicator rose slightly from -17.8 to -16.9 in November, although it remains at quite a low level. 

Investors started the week on a downbeat note, with sovereign bond yields falling across the board on both sides of the Atlantic, as expectations grew that major central banks may be done with interest rate hikes. In the Eurozone, however, Lagarde stressed that strong wage growth does not yet allow the ECB to declare victory over inflation.

Investors took a breather from the recent buying spree in government bonds during Thursday’s session, pushing yields higher on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite data releases yesterday showing inflation cooling more than expected in the Eurozone and the US, investors were cautious ahead of comments from some central bankers.

Euro area and US sovereign bond yields continued to fall during Friday's session as investors continue to expect interest rate cuts by mid-2024. Speaking last Friday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell remarked that policy is "well into restrictive territoy" further fueling the rally in bond markets.

Investors are starting the year cautiously as risk appetite seems to have eased over the holidays. As central bank officials tried to push market expectations of imminent rate cuts, although these expectations remain anchored in March for the Fed and April for the ECB, government bond yields rose across the board, particularly in the euro area.

In yesterday’s session, government bond yields fell slightly on both sides of the Atlantic. In the eurozone, German export data for November, which surprised to the upside on the back of strong EU demand, contributed to the move. In the US, the NY Fed’s metric of consumer’s one-year inflation expectations fell to 3.01%, the lowest level in almost three years.

Market sentiment remained subdued on Tuesday as investors awaited Thursday’s US inflation report for December, which could shed some light on the Fed’s future interest rate decisions. In this context, government bond yields rose in the eurozone, despite the negative surprise from German industrial production for November, and fell slightly in the US.