Germany’s 10-year government bond yield held above 2.35% in mid-February, remaining close to Friday’s over one-month high of 2.396%, as remarks by hawkish European Central Bank officials dashed hopes of a quick end to the current tightening cycle. ECB’s Joachim Nagel joined last week a chorus of policymakers calling for more interest rate increases, saying the ECB must act decisively to prevent inflation expectations from rising far above its 2% target, while board member Isabel Schnabel said that the rate hikes delivered by the ECB so far were having little impact on inflation. The ECB has raised its key rates by 50bps to the highest level since 2008, and signaled another similar hike in March to extend its efforts against soaring inflation in the bloc. Meanwhile, European Commission forecasts showed Eurozone economic growth is likely to be stronger than expected this year while inflation will be lower than in forecasts made towards the end of 2022.