U.S.:
Treasuries On Worst Run Since ’12 as Pound Slides: Markets Wrap
U.S. Treasuries headed for the longest losing streak in five years before Wednesday’s debt auction and as investors prepare for the Fed to raise borrowing costs as early as next week. The dollar rose, while sterling extended its decline ahead of the U.K. budget. The yield on 10-year U.S. notes climbed for an eighth day, helping trigger declines across most of Europe’s government debt. Stocks in the region followed suit, and were poised to notch up the longest run of declines since November. The British pound slid for the eighth time in nine sessions before the chancellor of the exchequer delivers his spring budget.
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-07/fed-looms-over-asian-stocks-after-u-s-peers-slid-markets-wrap>
Europe:
Germany’s Industrial Output Rebounds Led by Jump in Investment
German industrial production rebounded in January, reaffirming the country’s favourable economic outlook after factory orders slumped the most in eight years. Output, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, rose 2.8 percent from December, when it dropped a revised 2.4 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday. The volatile indicator’s reading compares with a median estimate for a 2.7 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey. Production was unchanged from a year earlier. The data come on the back of report on Tuesday showing factory orders plunged at the steepest pace since 2009 amid markedly below-average demand for big-ticket items.
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-08/germany-s-industrial-output-rebounds-led-by-jump-in-investment>
Asia:
China posts first monthly trade deficit in three years as imports soar
China unexpectedly posted its first trade gap in three years in February as a construction boom pushed imports much higher than expected and as increasing U.S. protectionist rhetoric casts a spotlight on the export giant’s trade position. The upbeat import reading reinforced the growing view that economic activity in China picked up in the first two months of the year, adding to a global manufacturing revival. That could give China’s policymakers more confidence to press ahead this year with oft-delayed and painful structural reforms such as tackling a rapid build-up in debt. "We suspect that this largely reflects the boost to import values from the recent jump in commodity price inflation, but it also suggests that domestic demand remains resilient," Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said in a note.
<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-trade-idUSKBN16F0HL>
