In Reeves We Truss

Just how worried is the Gilt market about increased borrowing by the new Labour government? This chart from Simon French of 10 year UK yields versus a G7 average shows that the spread has been widening of late, suggesting there is a UK specific issue behind the rise in 10 year yields: The FT has been peppered …

The Two Weeks That Will Be

1. The UKThe Prime Minister has demonstrated his ruthlessness by ditching his Chief of Staff, Sue Gray, before even 100 days in office had been completed. It also demonstrates a surprising amount of pressure for a man who has just delivered an historic victory to his party. This does not bode well for the long term. Short …

The Two Weeks That Will Be

1. The UKTeam BM is in Liverpool for the first Labour Party conference since the new regime took power. Away from the sideshow media tumult over free glasses and holidays, this will be the first real set piece moment for Rachel Reeves since she became Chancellor. She doesn’t want to pre-empt the OBR, obviously, for …

The Two Weeks That Will Be

1. VolatilityWe started our last monthly missive with the phrase “On Wednesday the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates“, which suggests that a Japanese rate rise was at the very least a known unknown. The record collapse and then recovery in Japanese stock markets in the wake of the interest rate decision was far more of a Black Swan-esque unknown …

Co-Cohabitation

++ France is an accident waiting to happen. The European Commission warned its “debt sustainability analysis indicates high risk over the medium term”. It cannot be governed effectively and it faces severely challenging debt/deficit dynamics. There should be a higher risk premium on French assets ++ If only forming a government in France were as simple …