‘Clear risk signal’: Gilt yields hit 28-year high as investors weigh Starmer’s future after local elections May 5, 2026 Gilt yields have risen to their highest rate since 1998 as investors weigh the odds of Keir Starmer being ousted following what is widely expected to be a major defeat for Labour at the local elections. The yield on 30-year government bonds rose 11 basis points on Tuesday to hit 5.76 per cent, topping the [...]
Gilt traders fear Labour electoral losses May 4, 2026 A widespread defeat for Labour in Thursday’s regional elections could trigger a “swing to the left politically” investors have warned, putting further pressure on government borrowing costs that are already at their highest levels since the financial crisis. Polling has suggested Labour is set to lose over 1,000 seats to other parties, including leftwing Green [...]
Bond market alert: Burnham and Streeting turn up leader rumours May 2, 2026 Bond markets are on alert as fresh reports have suggested that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and health secretary Wes Streeting are preparing leadership bids. City bank and analysts at the likes of Deutsche Bank and Jefferies have flagged the risks of a change in leadership and the potential for looser fiscal rules. Deutsche Bank’s Sanjay [...]
‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain April 17, 2026 Bond traders are bracing for the prospect of a surge in gilt yields as uncertainty over the future of Keir Starmer’s term in office could pave the way for a more left-wing successor. A Starmer defenestration could be just weeks away amid renewed scrutiny over the botched appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador and [...]
IMF: Middle East war risks sparking government debt doom loop April 14, 2026 Ballooning levels of government debt have left the global economy dangerously exposed to the aftereffects of the Middle East war, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned a fresh wave of inflation could trigger a historic bond crisis. In its latest Financial Stability Report, the financial body said that countries’ inability to rein [...]
Bond traders: Bank of England gilt shake-up would ‘concentrate risks’ in market meltdown April 2, 2026 Bank of England plans to reduce the bond market’s vulnerability to a Liz Truss-style crash would fail to improve financial stability and could make stress points worse, according to gilt traders and hedge funds polled by the Bank. Responses to the central bank’s plans to overhaul its regulation of the gilt repo market showed market [...]
UK bond markets are dangerously exposed March 31, 2026 Many of the forces shaping the bond market are beyond any single government’s control. The combination of higher inflation, weaker growth and increased debt issuance is driving a global repricing of sovereign bonds, says Helen Thomas The global bond market is entering an increasingly precarious phase, shaped by the early stages of what looks like [...]
Manic Monday: How Trump rocked global markets March 23, 2026 President Donald Trump sent global markets on a rollercoaster ride as traders were left stunned by mixed messages coming from the US administration and the Iranian regime. The Brent Crude oil price was trading around $114 per barrel before Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was pausing strikes due to “productive” [...]
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 [...]
Gilt yields – the hidden driver of house prices March 20, 2026 Everyone has assumed, understandably, that the two main factors influencing UK house prices are supply and affordability, but there is a third driver: gilt yields, says James Sproule James Carville, Bill Clinton’s political strategist, famously said if reincarnation was real, he wanted to come back as the bond market, “because then I can intimidate everyone”. [...]