Bond markets remain hesitant: an upturn in the US, stagnation in Europe.
The yield on US 10-year government bonds fell by -3.5pts to 4.588%, the 30-year by just -2pts to 4.705%, and the 2-year by -3pts to 4.94%.

The US yield curve remains inverted, and the 500-day mark has been passed.

On the numbers front, new home sales rebounded by +8.8% in the US in March, despite persistently high interest rates, with median sales prices even rising again, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department.

Sales rose to 693,000 units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, after 637,000 units the previous month.
On an annualized basis, i.e. compared with March 2023, they were up by 8.3%.
In detail, sales rose mainly in the Northeast (+27.8%) and the West (+8.6%).

The median price over one year was $430,700, up on the previous month.700, up from $406,500 in February.
The euro gained 0.4% against the greenback, to $1.0695/E, as the easing of tensions between Israel and Iran did not deter investors from safe-haven assets such as the dollar.


In the Eurozone, Bund and OAT yields stagnated at 2.46% and 2.988% respectively, while Italian BTPs eased by -2pts to 3.8020%.

The HCOB flash PMI composite index of global activity rebounded from 50.3 in March to 51.4 in April, signalling a 2nd consecutive monthly increase in private sector activity levels, following nine months of economic contraction in the region.

In France, the HCOB composite PMI index for overall activity rose by +1.6 to 49.9, its highest level since May 2023.
According to Oddo BHF, this rebound in PMIs confirms the beginning of a recovery after several quarters of stagnation.



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