UK Sovereign

The UK Debt Management Office intends to sell a new 15 year Gilt via syndication in early September for which it will seek feedback through a consultation with Gilt market participants next week.

Each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: what’s next for the US after its war on Huawei, the impact that more robots would have on the gender pay gap, and a look on the bright side of Europe’s mishmash of state guarantee schemes.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their funding programmes in mid-July.

The UK Debt Management Office outlined its borrowing plan for the period of September through to the end of November on Thursday, announcing that it plans to issue a minimum of two syndicated Gilts and 38 auctions during the period as its funding needs soar to unprecedented levels as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, has already thrown some cash from the air to boost the economy and prevent a more serious downturn, with job retention measures, a cut in VAT and meal vouchers. But that won’t be enough. The UK needs a full scale helicopter drop.

The UK is in many ways a green leader. Starting to issue green Gilts would be peripheral to that, and not necessary to environmental progress. But for a country that desperately needs to buff up its image, it is low-hanging fruit.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) has updated its remit to include an additional £50bn of borrowing by the end of August. However, investors had expected details of the sovereign’s borrowing ambitions up to the end of September.

Speaking at a Treasury Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sir Robert Stheeman, chief executive of the UK’s Debt Management Office, said that he was not concerned about the Bank of England’s decision last week to slow down the pace of Gilt purchases until the end of the year.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, June 22. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has hinted at a dramatic reversal of the central bank’s long-standing monetary policy strategy, with the idea that it would be better to reduce the stock of its asset purchases before raising interest rates.

UK government bonds sold off sharply as the Bank of England announced an increase to its asset purchase facility on Thursday but said it expected no further increase to the programme before the end of the year, leading to a much slower rate of buying.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, June 15. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.