Bonds: US yields rise amid Fedspeak, financial sector regulation in focus
These were the movements in some of the most widely-followed 10-year sovereign bond yields:
US: 2.38% (+4bp)
UK: 1.08% (-2bp)
Germany: 0.23% (-3bp)
France: 0.89% (-1bp)
Italy: 2.22% (-5bp)
Spain: 1.61% (-2bp)
Portugal: 3.87% (-3bp)
Greece: 6.86% (-27bp)
Japan: 0.06% (0bp)
Longer-dated Gilts edged higher at the end of last week, pushing yields lower, weighed down by a barrage of weak data out in the UK despite some hawkish Fedspeak.
In particular, manufacturing sector output dipped by 0.1% on the month in February, according to ONS, even after a 1.0% drop in January.
In parallel, according to the Halifax survey house prices in Britain undershot expectations in March, with the rate of gains slipping from 5.1% for February to a 3.8% pace for March (consensus: 4.1%).
Data for spending on construction and total trade referencing February also came in below analysts' projections.
Acting as a backdrop, trading in US Treasuries was very volatile going into the Easter weekend, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note dipping below 2.30% at one point, as traders reacted to news of the US missile strike in Syria.
The March US non-farm payrolls figures published later during the session showed just a 98,000 rise for March, which was well below the 174,000 forecast by the consensus, failed to leave an imprint on yields.
Instead many economists, but not all, brushed-off the 'miss', attributing it to a statistical bounce on the back of the unusually mild weather which boosted hiring during the previous month.
To take note of, an unexpected two-tenths of a percentage point drop saw the rate of unemployment fall to 4.5%.
Yet analysts at Barclays were unconvinced.
"This report is the latest piece of data showing divergence between soft and hard data. Survey readings of employment showed a considerable pickup in employment. Although only one data print, the weakness in this report poses a risk to our near-term outlook. We look for labor markets to accelerate in the near term, but should that hope fail, we would expect activity to slow as well," said Rob Martin at Barclays.
Elsewhere, Greek bond yields gained as Athens agreed to further measures to tackle its government deficit.
Fed and BoE comment on financial sector regulatory reform
Towards the close of trading on Wall Street, New York Fed chief William Dudley added an important caveat to his remarks earlier in the week that when the central bank began to shrink its balance sheet it might also pause in its rate hikes.
"Some people misconstrued what I said last week. I said a little pause. A pause is pretty short already; I think a little pause is even shorter than that," Dudley said.
Commenting on banking regulation, Dudley argued strongly in favour of a set of internationally harmonised rules for the financial sector, even as he tabled several suggestions for paring back those rules.
On a related note, speaking at a Reuters event at Canary Wharf, also on Friday, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney stressed that his contacts with US officials indicated they were not looking to roll-back financial sector regulation, but rather looking at ways to make it more "efficient".