FTSE 100 Live: Starmer denies Budget ‘misleading’ as Reeves on brink Markets Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. It was quite the Budget week to end November and for many more questions were created than answered. Whilst Labour might’ve hoped it would be be their rallying moment – with the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and doubling of the Chancellor’s fiscal buffer [...]
Bond market braces for gilt and sterling tremors Markets Bond market participants are bracing for a fresh round of turbulence in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Budget, with investors rejigging their exposure to gilts having warned the Chancellor’s fiscal plans are “very much under the microscope”. Rachel Reeves is expected to use her second major fiscal shake-up mount a historic tax and spend consolidation in [...]
Markets will determine whether Reeves has any credibility left Opinion It’s a regrettable reality that a politician – or an entire government – can limp on for months or even years after losing credibility in the eyes of voters. In contrast, when markets think the credibility is gone the consequences can be much more immediate. Just ask Liz Truss. One week from today, the Chancellor’s [...]
Investors flee UK stocks as Budget jitters echo Liz Truss fiasco November 18, 2025 Fund managers are ditching UK stocks as the fastest pace since Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng panicked markets with the 2022 mini-budget. Global investors have dramatically reduced their risk to UK equities as the Labour government’s second Budget edges closer, where a hefty batch of tax rises are expected to be on the horizon. Rachel [...]
Leadership spat sends jitters through bond markets November 13, 2025 Jitters coursed through UK bond markets on Wednesday after a leadership crisis engulfing the Labour government triggered a jump in gilt yields, leading investors to warn that more political instability risked exacerbating the ‘moron premium’ applied to UK borrowing costs. Interest on 10-year gilts rose by three basis points, while the pound slumped to its lowest level [...]
Reeves may reassure the markets, but her political future is at risk November 6, 2025 Reeves’ speech was intended to steady nerves but instead will ignite the internal struggle that defines Labour’s next phase in power, says Helen Thomas With just over three weeks to go until the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has decided she can’t wait any longer. The pitch has to be rolled, the ground prepared, and the [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Reeves faces MPs grilling, blue-chip stocks fall November 4, 2025 Welcome back to City AM live blog, This morning, Rachel Reeves took to Downing Street to lay the grounds for the Autumn Budget. In a speech that raised eyebrows across the City, she attempted to offshore the blame for the country’s economic woes to the previous Conservative government. The Chancellor laid out the economic choices [...]
We have to get serious about major spending cuts October 16, 2025 Speculation over the contents of next month’s Budget has reached fever pitch, and it’s only going to ramp up from here. This is not idle curiosity; with businesses still adapting to the confidence-sapping and job-smothering fallout from last year’s Budget, there is now a genuine fear that what remains of our economic resilience could be [...]
Brits get poorer amid high inflation and soaring taxes September 25, 2025 British families saw their incomes drop in real terms last year when household sizes are taken into account, official data has shown, with high inflation and tax demands squeezing people’s finances. The Office for National Statistics has revealed that equivalised original income for UK households dropped by £1,400 in real terms because salaries did not [...]
Reeves, beware the bond vigilantes: the dark knights of the City September 11, 2025 As UK 30-year gilt yields surge to record levels, Tim Focus warns Chancellor Reeves of the threat of bond vigilantes.