Market Information Wednesday 21 October 2020

The Dutch economy performs better than other European countries, reports Statistics Netherlands (CBS). After an economic contraction in the first quarter of 2020, the Dutch economy contracted by 8.5 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter. This was the strongest contraction ever recorded. The German economy decreased by 9.7 percent in the second quarter, the Belgian by 12.1 percent and the French by 13.8 percent. Within the EU, the Spanish economy decreased the most at 17.8 percent. Unemployment in the Netherlands is also low by European standards. Only a few EU Member States, among which Germany, had a lower unemployment rate in August than the 4.6 percent measured in the Netherlands.

Home construction in the United States increased slightly again in September to more than 1.4 million homes. According to the US government, the number of homes under construction increased 1.9 % in September from a 6.7 % decrease in the month of August. Economists had anticipated an increase of 3.5 %.

The first issuance of bonds for corona support by the European Union has been well received by capital markets on Tuesday. Investors subscribed for more than 233 billion euros in two bond series with a joint size of 17 billion euros, resulting in an order book that was almost fourteen times oversubscribed. The first series of bonds, with maturity of ten years, had the highest demand for an Eurobond ever.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at -0.50% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 3 basis points to -0.27% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.