CAUTION AND PROFIT-TAKING kept Europe's
investment-grade bonds with a slight edge
over junk debt in today's trading. A
mix of European economic data
kept price swings channeled in fairly thin bands, as
inflation took a downturn,
GDP came in above forecast, and jobs data showed the
lowest unemployment since '09. The
oil-and-energy group fared well, giving important sector cues to corporate-bond traders, as
Nymex
oil prices hovered around $54 and
BP PLC shares initially rose 3.6%. However
BNP Paribas weighed on the financial group, off 2.9% on disappointing quarterly revenue, while
Weir Group PLC tanked 7.3%.
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