FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - German Bunds continued their weak trend from Friday on Monday and suffered further price losses. By midday, the benchmark Euro-Bund futures contract had fallen by 0.31 percent to 131.75 points. At the same time, the yield on ten-year Bunds rose to 2.45 percent.

Economic data was mixed at the start of the week. While German industry noticeably expanded its production in February, exports fell significantly in the same reporting month. The Sentix Institute's economic barometer continued to brighten in April.

Together with the recent improvement in production data, economists expressed confidence. "The increase in production in February has increased the chance that the German economy will not shrink again in the first quarter," commented analyst Ralph Solveen from Commerzbank. In the final quarter of 2023, the German economy shrank by 0.3%, as it did in the year as a whole.

One of the main events this week is the interest rate decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. No rate change is initially expected. However, there could be hints as to whether the first interest rate cut could take place soon. In the USA, the focus is on inflation data, which will be published on Wednesday. The figures are of great importance for the interest rate course of the US central bank, the Fed./bgf/jsl/nas