Gilt rout sparks calls for Bank of England to slow ‘unusual’ bond sale programme Economics The Bank of England should slow the pace of its costly approach to unwinding quantitative easing, which is pushing up government borrowing costs and weakening the public finances at a time when both are under significant pressure, several top economists have said. The calls follow the UK’s sovereign debt being swept up in a dramatic [...]
Government borrowing costs soar as Iran war drags on Markets The government’s borrowing costs have risen to their joint highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, after a sharp jump in the oil price prompted a sell-off in UK debt because of concerns over inflation. The yield on the 10-year gilt – the main benchmark for any government’s long-term ability to borrow – climbed back [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks slump as oil rises; Reeves tax hikes trigger borrowing boost Markets Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. An extended ceasefire may have been announced in the Middle East, but its left markets with major appetite for further peace before investor sentiment recovers. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was trading back over the $100 mark on Thursday morning. [...]
UK asset managers pile into record gilt auction April 15, 2026 Asset managers have piled into a landmark UK gilt auction after the Middle East war forced the government to fork out the highest interest rate on its 10-year bond since the global financial crash. City AM understands that Aberdeen and Schroders bought up some of the record £15bn of 10-year securities issued by the Debt [...]
Government borrowing costs set for worst month since Liz Truss March 23, 2026 The government’s short-term borrowing costs were on course to have their worst month since Liz Truss’s ignominious mini-Budget, until the news of United States’ talks with Iran led traders to unwind bets future interest rate hikes. The two-year gilt yield jumped by eight basis points on Monday morning, meaning the interest rate on the government’s [...]
Borrowing costs soar to post-financial crisis high in blow to Reeves March 20, 2026 UK government borrowing costs have soared to their highest level since the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, with markets frightened by the state of public finances in the face of another global price shock. Gilt yields have inched up over the course of the week, with the ten-year gilt yield topping 4.9 per cent on [...]
Bank of England’s Bailey: Interest rate cuts not on the horizon March 19, 2026 The Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey has ruled out the prospect of any interest rate cuts in the near future, warning that the sustained conflict in the Middle East constitutes a major shock to energy supply that could leave long-term scars on the British economy. In an interview with LBC set to air on Thursday [...]
Borrowing costs surge as market bets on future Bank of England rate hikes March 19, 2026 The government’s short-term borrowing costs climbed to their highest level in more than a year on Wednesday, after the Bank of England announced a unanimous decision to hold its central interest rate. Traders aggressively pared back bets of future rate cuts on the news that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East led all nine [...]
City fears Rayner’s rise as she warns Starmer that Labour is ‘running out of time’ March 18, 2026 Angela Rayner’s ascendancy to the Labour leadership has been flagged as a risk for public finances as the former deputy prime minister said the party was “running out of time”. At a rally on Tuesday night, Rayner suggested that Labour was viewed as representing “the establishment” and said the party’s survival was “at stake”. She [...]
Mortgage lenders pull deals at fastest pace since mini-Budget March 11, 2026 Mortgage lenders are pulling deals at the fastest rate since Liz Truss infamous mini-Budget amid growing agitation around the economic consequences of the Iran war. Nearly 500 homeowner mortgages have disappeared from the market in mere days, according to finanical information platform Moneyfacts, as average mortgage rates breeze past the five per cent mark. Moneyfacts [...]