Watch: Are we on the brink of a financial crisis? August 28, 2025 This might be the calm before the storm; the final stretch of a summer holiday that we might look back on as heady days before things turned very nasty indeed. Yesterday I interviewed the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Business Secretary – all lined up in the Morning Wire studio. The video will be [...]
Gilts back to where they were before Rachel Reeves’ tears July 3, 2025 UK government bonds have settled back to prices seen before Rachel Reeves was seen crying at PMQs as bond markets were soothed by Keir Starmer’s warm words about the chancellor. The prime minister said Rachel Reeves was a “great colleague” and re-affirmed she would be the chancellor for “a very long time to come”. Bond [...]
Gilt yields spike as doubt grows over future of Rachel Reeves July 2, 2025 Gilt yields spiked shortly after Keir Starmer refused to confirm whether Rachel Reeves would remain as Chancellor in an eventful PMQs during which she appeared visibly upset. The prime minister defended the government’s U-turn on the welfare bill, which could now prevent Labour from making £4.8bn savings baked into the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s [...]
Spending Review: Gilt yields dip in relief for Rachel Reeves June 11, 2025 Gilt yields fell in the minutes following the publication of the government’s Spending Review, paring back earlier rises and raising hopes the Chancellor had placated markets over her splurge on infrastructure, energy and healthcare spending. The 10-year UK government bond yield nudged down from 4.61 per cent to 4.55 per cent after the Spending Review [...]
‘The most calls I’ve ever had’ – Why Japanese bonds have suffered surging yields May 27, 2025 The Japanese bond market has suffered one of its worst weeks in years. An auction on Japan’s 20-year government bond saw its bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, sink to levels last seen in 2012, while the auction’s tail, the gap between average and lowest-accepted prices, widened to the longest since 1987, in another sign [...]
FCA sets out plans to open up bond market to retail investors January 31, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has set out plans to slash “red tape” around the corporate bond market today in a bid to open up the asset class to retail investors and wealth managers. In consultation plans shared with Morning Wire, the watchdog said it would look to coax more listed companies into issuing debt [...]
Bank of England policymaker: ‘Dragons of market discipline are alive and well’ January 23, 2025 "There have been spikes in yields in a number of individual countries in recent years, including the UK, that indicate the dragons of market discipline are alive and well," she said.
‘Here for the long haul’: Reeves defends her position after market turmoil January 17, 2025 Rachel Reeves has insisted she is “here for the long haul” as she defended her position as Chancellor in the wake of bond market turmoil and rising government borrowing costs. The UK’s Chancellor has faced criticism for embarking on a trip to China last weekend while government borrowing costs surged and the value of the [...]
How ‘twin deficits’ have fuelled turmoil in the gilt market January 16, 2025 The sell-off eased slightly on Wednesday following positive inflation figures, but yields remain well ahead of where they were just a few weeks ago.
FTSE 100 rises and gilts recover but Reeves isn’t out of the woods just yet January 15, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves was dealt some welcome good news after a surprise drop in inflation that saw gilt yields fall at the fastest pace in over a year on Wednesday, but some economists fear the development represents a temporary reprieve with inflation at risk of rebounding in the coming months. New figures from the Office [...]