A Friday for almost nothing... the publication of the long-awaited 'NFP' was a non-event.

T-Bonds were and remained completely frozen, before and after the publication of the 'NFP', just as before and after the FED's 'Beige Book' on Wednesday, Powell's speech and before and after the ECB's meeting on Thursday: everything was in line with market expectations, both the central banks' announcements and the 'macro' figures.
That's not 100% true for the NFP, but 2 unexpected and opposing elements offset each other, neutralizing the day's publication.

February's NFP appeared more robust than expected, with an unexpected acceleration in job creation to 275,000 (vs. 190,000 anticipated), but the US Labor Department sharply revised downwards (-124.000) its January estimate, to 229,000 from 353,000.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in February from 3.7% the previous month, while the rise in average hourly earnings slowed to a reassuring 0.1% month-on-month and 4.3% year-on-year.

US T-Bonds thus remain virtually unchanged at around 4.09%.
A slight improvement was confirmed on Bunds and OATs, which cleared -2.5pts at 2.2700% and 2.71500% respectively... and the same spread on Italian BTPs at 3.5780%.
The week was clearly positive, with long rates easing by 15Pts on Bunds and OATs and -9Pts on US T-Bonds.

The fall in yields supported the ounce of gold, which shattered a new all-time record at $2,185/Oz.


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