LONDON (SHARECAST) - The following were the yield and basis point (bp) movements of some of the most-watched 10-year bonds this afternoon:

US: 1.99% (-1bp)
UK: 2.11% (-2bp)
Germany: 1.71% (-4bp)
France: 2.30% (-5bp)
Spain: 5.18% (-4bp)
Italy: 4.32% (1bp)

[NOTE: there are 100bp to a percentage point]

All but Italy saw contractions in ten year bond yields on Thursday following the publication of household spending data, house price growth, producer price indices and consumer inflation figures.

US bond yields contracted by one basis point to 1.99% on Thursday as better-than-expected data on average personal incomes was published by the Commerce Department. US personal income rose 2.6% in the month of December, three times the growth rate predicted by analysts and more than twice the increase seen in the previous month of November. The jump in Americans' incomes represented the biggest monthly increase seen since 2004.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index - often viewed as a barometer of business performance in the States- gave a reading of 55.6, higher than the 50.5 reading that had been forecasted. This was underpinned by the highest new orders reading recorded since March.

On the flip side, jobless claims were up slightly. The Labor Department's weekly data showed that 368,000 American filed initial jobless claims in the week ending January 26th, slightly more than the 350,000 expected claims. Likewise, the number of continuing jobless claims also climbed, with 3.18m claims being recorded, slightly more than the 3.17m forecasted.

In the UK, bond yields slid by two basis points to 2.11% underpinned by encouraging house price data released by Nationwide. The Nationwide house price index showed that the average hosue price had risen by 0.5% during January, more than twice the 0.2% rise forecast. The average house in the UK today costs £162,245.

In Germany, bond yields slipped down by four basis points to 1.71% as the Federal statistics office published data on the consumer price inflation (CPI). German CPI rose 1.7% year on year but contracted 0.5% compared to in the previous month.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented an optimistic view of the EU's growth prospects during a press conference alongside Italian Premier Mario Monti. The German leader said: "I am very optimistic that on the question of the long-term EU budget we will be successful that we will get an agreement."

In France, yields fell five basis points to 2.30% as the French statistics agency Insee published data on French producer prices. Producer prices for December declined by 0.3%, representing the second consecutive month of contractions. Meanwhile, French household spending failed to grow in December compared to November, with the lack of movement being blamed on a fall in energy spending offsetting a rise in consumption.

In Spain, yields slid by four basis points to 5.18%. This was on the same day that data from the government statistics office showed consumer price inflation had grown by 2.6%, slightly lower than the 3% forecasted. The Spanish regulator also said on Thursday that it would not extend a bad on short-selling.

Italy was the only country covered in ShareCast's round up of bond yields which saw an increase in its bond yield. The ten year bond yield rose by one basis point to 4.32%. This came as the Italian Producer Price Index in the domestic market contracted by 0.2% to 2% from 2.2% in the previous month.

MF

Related share prices