Will the Bank of England’s quantitative tightening torpedo Reeves’ fiscal rules? June 5, 2025 Rachel Reeves is in a pickle. At under £10bn, the Chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal headroom – the Treasury’s wiggle room within its fiscal rules – is already wafer-thin by historic standards. And it is under intense strain, given a recent slew of billion-pound government spending pledges such as reversing winter fuel payments cuts and scrapping the [...]
Government debt sale delayed over ‘Bloomberg system issues’ May 21, 2025 An auction of UK government debt was delayed on Wednesday after a Bloomberg system outage prevented traders from participating. In a statement the UK’s Debt Management Office (DMO) said: “Due to the ongoing market-wide Bloomberg system issues, the bidding window for this morning’s auction of 4 per cent Treasury Gilt 2031 is being extended.” A [...]
Reeves’ risky borrowing policies prompt fresh tax hike fears May 20, 2025 Tax hike fears are gathering pace as rising borrowing costs are set to wipe out around half of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ small £9.9bn headroom, a leading economics consultancy has warned. Reeves made around £14bn in spending cuts at her Spring Statement two months ago but left herself with one of the slimmest fiscal buffers on [...]
Bank of England’s postponement of bond sale is a ‘precaution’ April 10, 2025 The Bank of England’s decision to postpone the sale of long-dated bonds to after June following market volatility was a “precaution”, according to deputy governor Sarah Breeden. President Donald Trump’s tariffs sent markets around the world into a state of panic as 30-year gilt yields surged to its highest level since 1998, pushing up borrowing [...]
Fresh headache for Rachel Reeves as UK gilt yields spike to 1998 levels April 9, 2025 UK gilts have spiked to 30-year highs after a selloff in US Treasuries sent government bond markets worldwide spiralling. The yield on 30-year gilts spiked to 5.68 per cent this afternoon, before falling back slightly to 5.62 per cent, well above the previous multi-decade high of 5.47 per cent reached in January. The movement has [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Markets ‘shrug off’ speech as gilt sales revised lower March 26, 2025 The Debt Management Office (DMO) said it was planning £299bn of gilt sales in 2025 to 2026, slightly below the £302bn initially expected despite the government’s borrowing plans. However, this still marked the most extensive package since the pandemic. The DMO said it would issue the smallest selection of long-maturity gilts in its 27-year history [...]
Tax or cut? Rachel Reeves faces fiscal headache before OBR forecasts February 5, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish its latest assessment of the UK economy on 26 March.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules on a ‘knife edge’ January 30, 2025 The Resolution Foundation warned that Rachel Reeves may be forced to find some extra cash through tax increases or spending cuts, or else face "market jitters".
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio: UK economy at risk of ‘debt death spiral’ January 21, 2025 Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Capital, warned that the UK economy was at risk of a “debt death spiral” following the recent bout of bond market instability. In an interview with the Financial Times, Dalio warned that the government faced the prospect of having to borrow more and more from financial markets in [...]
UK gilts: After 30 years of calm, pension funds now must adapt to volatility January 19, 2025 After decades of calm, pension funds have little if any memory of more volatile times. But amid rising gilts, that now needs to change.