If anyone was expecting markets to be in jubilant mood after Liz Truss’s resignation, they will be feeling a little disappointed. True, the pound has risen and gilt yields have fallen this afternoon – but not by much. They moved far further on Monday when most of Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget was ditched, which is perhaps only to be expected.
We could be heading for a general election – and markets may not like it
At 3.30 p.m. yields on the UK government’s ten-year gilt stood at 3.85 per cent, down from just below 4 per cent early this morning. This time last week, when Kwarteng was still chancellor, they topped 4.4 per cent. They began Truss’s brief premiership at 3.3 per cent. Rising gilt yields, though, long pre-date Truss. At the beginning of the year, they were at 1 per cent. As with gilts, so with the pound which, roughly an hour after Truss’s resignation speech, stood at $1.13:
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