LONDON: US Treasury debt prices inched up in Europe on Monday, clawing back some of last week's losses as investors looked for clarity on the euro zone's latest crisis-fighting measures.
Treasuries fell on Friday after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report and after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said on Thursday the bank was working on steps to cut the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy. Germany opposes the ECB resuming its bond buying programme and it is unclear how the resources of the yet to be ratified ESM permanent rescue fund will be boosted.
"Markets are reassessing Draghi's comments. It's pretty clear there remains considerable (German) Bundesbank opposition to reopening ECB bond purchases," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.
"There are some questions on the euro zone's future strategy on the crisis, and that's resulting in the moves we're seeing today in safe-haven debt markets, but exactly how far the moves will go it's very difficult to say in these volatile markets."
US 10-year T-notes were last up 6/32 in price to yield 1.55 percent, pulling away from Friday's post-jobs report peak of 1.592 percent, which was also the highest since July 6.
The 30-year T-bond was 11/32 higher in price to yield 2.64 percent, down 1.5 basis points from late US trade. The 30-year yield rose as high as 2.681 percent on Friday, its highest in four weeks.
US Treasuries slightly underperformed German Bunds, with their yield premium last up around 18 bps from 16 bps in late European trade on Friday after the US jobs data disappointed traders who had bet the Federal Reserve was ready to embark on a third round of economic stimulus soon.
The report showed US employers hired the most workers in five months in July and analysts said this should give the Fed time to consider its options to foster economic growth.
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