FTSE 100 Live: BP tumbles on buyback suspension, Barclays profit boost Markets Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. It was a rocky day for bond markets on Monday as political jitters rippled through the City. The 10-year gilt yield – a key benchmark for the government – rose as much as 10 basis points to 4.62 per cent following news that Scottish Labour [...]
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 [...]
How are ‘bankrupt’ France’s borrowing costs still lower than ours? Markets Locked in a protracted political crisis over the extent of its indebtedness – and with its deficit running at over five per cent of GDP – France has earned itself the unwanted monikers of ‘the sick man of Europe’ and the ‘new Greece’. Despite these woes, its borrowing costs remain lower than the UK’s. Ali [...]
Gilt auction demand lowest in two years in sign of pre-Budget jitters September 25, 2025 Gilt market jitters in the run-up to the Budget bled into demand at government bond auctions for the first time on Thursday, as sales of bonds saw interest from investors hit its lowest in at least two years. Auctions of five- and 30-year gilts issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) this week attracted the [...]
Bank of England ‘under pressure’ to slow bond sales amid market tumult September 5, 2025 The Bank of England should slow its quantitative tightening programme and stop active sales of long-dated bonds entirely in the wake of this week’s bond rout that saw the cost of long-term borrowing soar to its highest level this century, a group of top economists has said. Markets were rocked by a global sell-off in [...]
Borrowing costs surge as gilts close in on 27-year low August 26, 2025 Long-dated gilts plunged to a near 27-year low on Tuesday, bringing the UK’s fragile fiscal position into even sharper relief in the run-up to the government’s second Budget this Autumn. The yield on 30-year UK government bonds, which moves inversely to the price, jumped by as much as nine basis points to 5.63 per cent, [...]