European bonds fell, with the 10-year German benchmark bund having its worst week since December 2001, on speculation that a US invasion of Iraq will be delayed.
The German 4 1/2 percent bund due January 2013 dropped 1.54, or 15.40 euros per 1,000-euro (US$1,076) face amount, to 103.83 this week. The yield added 19 basis points to 4.02 percent. The yield reached 3.8 percent Monday, the lowest since April 1999. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
"If the likelihood of an attack has decreased or there's the perception a war would be resolved quickly, it's a bond negative event," said Ralf Welge, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.
Bonds plunged on Thursday, with the two-year note posting its biggest decline in seven months, after Cable News Network reported on Wednesday that the CIA is in talks with Iraqi military leaders about surrendering in the event of an attack, suggesting a conflict may be short-lived.
European bonds also fell as stocks surged for a second day yesterday, prompting some investors to shun fixed-income securities in favor of equities. The Dow Jones Stoxx 50 rose 5 percent, extending yesterday's gain of almost 7 percent. Germany's DAX Index added 2.1 percent. Equities also rose in France, Italy and Spain.
The German 3 percent note due December 2004 plunged 0.42, or 4.2 euros per 1,000-euro face amount, to 100.91 in the week. Its yield rose 24 basis points to 2.45 percent, giving the note the worst week since January 2002. It increased 5 basis points on Friday. On Thursday, the yield rose 15 basis points, the biggest one-day increase in seven months.
European bonds due in more than a year have gained 2 percent since the start of January, including reinvested interest and according to Bloomberg indexes. South African bonds have been the best performers, giving a 3.4 percent return. US bonds have returned 1.2 percent.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS