UPDATE 2-French debt yields briefly turn positive on data

France's 10-year government bond yield briefly turned positive on Wednesday for the first time since July as upbeat German data and optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade talks lifted borrowing costs across the eurozone to 3-1/2-month highs.

But the gains were fleeting as a dip in U.S. Treasury yields in late European trading, accompanied by a modest dollar rebound, burnished the appeal of European government debt. Earlier, the equivalent Bund yield as high as -0.3% after better-than-expected German industrial orders pointed towards stabilizing conditions in the euro zone's biggest economy, before erasing gains.

Germany's 20-year bond yield, which briefly turned positive on both Tuesday and Wednesday, touched a high of 0.005% before dropping back just below zero, at -0.0149%. The French 10-year yield rose to 0.001%, while Austrian 10-year yields touched three-month highs at -0.0830 %.

French 10-year yields subsequently flipped to negative territory and traded at minus 3 bps. Commerzbank head of rates and credit research Christoph Rieger said the German data had added selling pressure on Bunds in particular, as did a Financial Times article by the German finance minister calling for a eurozone banking union.

"We have global risk sentiment that has been improving obviously for some time - now additionally European risk sentiment could at least receive some support from the latest proposals on a banking union," Rieger said. "All this basically adds to selling pressure in Bunds in particular."

The United States and China, the world's two biggest economies, have signaled they are pushing hard for a "phase one" trade agreement, possibly sometime this month, and Rieger said the market was "fully expecting" a deal to be signed. China is seeking the removal of U.S. tariffs imposed on Sept. 1, as well as some relief from earlier tariffs, people familiar with the negotiations said on Monday.

As world markets sold off, Japanese government bond (JGB)yields shot higher, with receding expectations of an interest rate cut by the Bank of Japan also weighing. The 10-year JGB yield hit -0.075%, its highest since late May.

Analysts say rate cuts and easing measures from major central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have lowered recession risks. German asset management firm DWS said on Tuesday the risk of a global recession was very low. Georg Schuh, chief investment officer for EMEA, predicted a one-in-four chance of ECB chief Christine Lagarde delivering an interest rate hike in her first year in office.

However, German composite PMI data - which edged up from the previous month more than was expected at 51.6 - was still one of the weakest performances in the past six years.

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