* Stoxx 600 index up 0.1%
* Tech stocks lead gains, up 0.9%
* Banks worst performers, down 0.6%
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BOND YIELDS: MIND THE US-DE GAP (0848 GMT)
An uneventful/dovish testimony by Fed’s Chair Jerome Powell
prevented government bond yields from rising above their recent
multi-week highs.
But, barring an unexpected shift of the Fed’s attitude,
supply and demand will be one of the major issues driving rates.
“Given that we expect the ECB to confirm its current pace of
bond purchases at the upcoming meeting, the supply/demand
picture is favourable for the euro zone government bonds, hence
limiting any potential significant rise in their yields,”
according to Unicredit analysts.
“The situation is less rosy in the U.S. where, in the
remainder of the year, the Fed is likely to buy only $320
billion of U.S. Treasuries out $1 trillion of bonds expected to
be issued over this period,” they say.
They reckon that “a 10Y UST-Bund spread of…
