LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond yields nudged higher early on Wednesday, moving further above recent lows, but investors were holding off from any big bets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual symposium on Friday.
After last week’s drop, yields have recovered slightly as investor nerves over a possible pullback in Federal Reserve stimulus and a slowing economic rebound have eased.
Wednesday is light on data but investors will be watching the German Ifo business climate survey data at 0800 GMT for a gauge of sentiment in the euro zone’s biggest economy.
By 0730 GMT, the benchmark 10-year German yield was 1 basis point higher at -0.463%, while other core yields up a similar amount.
Earlier this month, the German 10-year yield touched -0.524%, its lowest since early February. While Fed officials have made noises about starting to taper asset purchases, the European Central Bank had pledged to stick with its stimulus for now.
Peripheral bond yields rose too, although mostly by less than 1 basis point <IT10YT=RR<.
ING analysts said bond yields looked due a move higher as concerns about the Delta COVID-19 variant wane.
“It’s not been easy in recent months to point to macro releases and use them to position for higher market rates. But at the same time, it feels like the momentum for falls in market rates has abated somewhat,” they said.
“The narrative of Delta-impacted data is out there but beyond that, there is the realisation that within the next few months the vast majority of populations in developed markets (especially the US and Europe) will either have been vaccinated or will have contracted Delta.”
U.S. Treasury yields rose marginally as investors waited for a speech on Friday during which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could give indications on when the U.S. central bank is likely to begin paring bond purchases.
Benchmark 10-year yields were up 1 basis point to 1.2935%.
(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Source: Reuters