Euro zone bond yields edge below multi-week highs ahead of data deluge

By Lucy Raitano

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields edged down on Thursday as traders await key U.S. data due later in the session for a steer on the world's biggest economy, while relief on easing trade tensions faded, pushing some flows into fixed income.

Germany's 10-year yield DE10YT=RR, the euro area's benchmark, was down one basis point (bp) to 2.687%, but remained close to a multi-week high of 2.7% hit on Wednesday.

German 2-year yields DE2YT=RR, more sensitive to changes in expectations for European Central Bank policy, were also off 1 bp at 1.934%.

Italy's 10-year yield were flat at 3.72% IT10YT=RR.

Closely-watched U.S. data on Thursday includes April retail sales and jobless figures due later.

Official figures showed Britain's economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.2% in March. Traders are also awaiting euro zone flash GDP figures for Q1 due later in morning trading.