Reeves to scrap two-child benefit cap September 30, 2025 Rachel Reeves is poised to abolish the two-child benefit cap at next month’s Budget, in a move that will be cheered by anti-poverty campaigners but is likely to stoke bond market fears that the government is unable to reign in runaway spending and borrowing. The Chancellor is said to be exploring a new tapered system [...]
Banks’ bond market headache spells trouble for FTSE 100 September 4, 2025 The frenzy in the bond market spells trouble for banking stocks and could create broader issues for the FTSE 100. Bond markets have had a tumultuous week, with the UK’s 30-year gilt yields hitting a 27-year high. This was triggered by a global sell-off, as well as political unease stemming from a Downing Street reshuffle [...]
Watch: Are we on the brink of a financial crisis? August 28, 2025 This might be the calm before the storm; the final stretch of a summer holiday that we might look back on as heady days before things turned very nasty indeed. Yesterday I interviewed the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Business Secretary – all lined up in the City AM studio. The video will be [...]
Gilts back to where they were before Rachel Reeves’ tears July 3, 2025 UK government bonds have settled back to prices seen before Rachel Reeves was seen crying at PMQs as bond markets were soothed by Keir Starmer’s warm words about the chancellor. The prime minister said Rachel Reeves was a “great colleague” and re-affirmed she would be the chancellor for “a very long time to come”. Bond [...]
Gilt yields spike as doubt grows over future of Rachel Reeves July 2, 2025 Gilt yields spiked shortly after Keir Starmer refused to confirm whether Rachel Reeves would remain as Chancellor in an eventful PMQs during which she appeared visibly upset. The prime minister defended the government’s U-turn on the welfare bill, which could now prevent Labour from making £4.8bn savings baked into the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s [...]
Spending Review: Gilt yields dip in relief for Rachel Reeves June 11, 2025 Gilt yields fell in the minutes following the publication of the government’s Spending Review, paring back earlier rises and raising hopes the Chancellor had placated markets over her splurge on infrastructure, energy and healthcare spending. The 10-year UK government bond yield nudged down from 4.61 per cent to 4.55 per cent after the Spending Review [...]
‘The most calls I’ve ever had’ – Why Japanese bonds have suffered surging yields May 27, 2025 The Japanese bond market has suffered one of its worst weeks in years. An auction on Japan’s 20-year government bond saw its bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, sink to levels last seen in 2012, while the auction’s tail, the gap between average and lowest-accepted prices, widened to the longest since 1987, in another sign [...]
FCA sets out plans to open up bond market to retail investors January 31, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out plans to slash “red tape” around the corporate bond market today in a bid to open up the asset class to retail investors and wealth managers. In consultation plans shared with City AM, the watchdog said it would look to coax more listed companies into issuing debt [...]
Bank of England policymaker: ‘Dragons of market discipline are alive and well’ January 23, 2025 "There have been spikes in yields in a number of individual countries in recent years, including the UK, that indicate the dragons of market discipline are alive and well," she said.
‘Here for the long haul’: Reeves defends her position after market turmoil January 17, 2025 Rachel Reeves has insisted she is “here for the long haul” as she defended her position as Chancellor in the wake of bond market turmoil and rising government borrowing costs. The UK’s Chancellor has faced criticism for embarking on a trip to China last weekend while government borrowing costs surged and the value of the [...]