FTSE 100 Live: OBR chiefs face MP grilling; Food inflation slows December 2, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) admitted its “worst failure in the 15-year history” of the fiscal watchdog on Monday. This morning, from 10am, two of its remaining spokespeople will be facing a grilling from the Treasury select committee of MPs. The sensational leak of [...]
Reeves ends Budget week with more unanswered questions than she started with November 29, 2025 It was supposed to be the week that ended months of uncertainty. But Rachel Reeves has finished Budget week with more questions to answer than she started with. Not all of it was bad. Increasing the fiscal headroom was prudent. Cutting back motability spending was sensible. Removing a loophole that allowed private hire firms to [...]
City readies up for Labour’s borrowing spree November 26, 2025 Fixed income investors are readying for the Debt Management Office (DMO) to boost its gilt issuance for the current financial year, otherwise the level of UK government debt sold to traders, as the Labour government ploughs ahead with its borrowing spree. The DMO, an independent government body that oversees the sale of UK government bonds, [...]
Bond market braces for gilt and sterling tremors November 26, 2025 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 [...]
UK bonds sell off after income tax U-turn November 14, 2025 UK government bonds sold off sharply on Friday morning, as markets recoiled from the government’s decision to row back on plans to plug much of its multibillion-pound black hole with a manifesto-busting income tax hike. The yield on 10-year gilts – the common benchmark for the government’s long-term ability to borrow – climbed by some [...]
Bond markets ignore Starmer briefings and Westminster gossip November 12, 2025 Bond markets shrugged at Keir Starmer’s team’s attacks against Cabinet ministers and Westminster gossip suggesting a leadership contest was emerging after investors were dragged into briefing wars. On Tuesday night, a briefing war erupted in Westminster as Keir Starmer’s allies told journalists that there would be a rout in the bond markets if the Prime [...]
Jobs market decline ‘fuels hopes’ for Bank of England interest rate cut November 11, 2025 The jump in the unemployment rate and softening private sector wage growth is driving up expectations of an interest rate cut at the Bank of England’s next meeting in mid-December. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate had jumped to 5 per cent, higher than economists had expected, while wage growth had [...]
Gilt yields drop as Reeves crosses fingers to reap benefits October 22, 2025 Gilt yields have fallen as investors breathed a sign of relief after inflation came in below economist expectations, with top analysts claiming an interest rate cut this year is “very much in play” while adding that Rachel Reeves could be in luck. Gilts, the name for UK government bonds, have regained momentum in the UK [...]
IMF sounds alarm on soaring sovereign debt October 15, 2025 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged governments to bear down on profligate spending after it found government debt was on course to reach 100 per cent of global GDP within the next five years. In its latest Fiscal Monitor report, the world’s preeminent financial institution sounded the alarm on developed and developing nations’ over-reliance [...]
What will Rachel Reeves’ budget pay for and where will the money come from? October 9, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ November budget is fast approaching, and steep tax rises are once again on the cards. Speaking at Labour conference last month, the Chancellor hinted at tax hikes by warning that she will be forced into “harder choices” by “harsh global headwinds”. To balance the books in accordance with her much-discussed fiscal rules, Reeves [...]