‘bear steepener’ starts to stalk the chancellor

Issue of the week: trouble in the gilt ...

Speculation has reached fever pitch about the contents of the government’s forthcoming Autumn Budget. This follows the assessment of the highly respected NIESR (National Institute of Economic and Soci

François Bayrou, the beleaguered French prime minister, has said that the 8 September confidence vote in parliament, which is expected to go against him and his budget proposals, will not decide “the

Parents of young children, and pet owners, often start to worry when they have been enjoying an unusually long period of silence. Investors are experiencing a similar sensation. Markets seem calm, wit

A month ago, analysts were predicting that S&P 500 earnings growth for the second quarter would come in at a sluggish 5% year-on-year, says Sam Goldfarb in The Wall Street Journal. The spring period w

The sale after 17 years of the last of the government’s stake in NatWest has led some to claim that this was good news for the banking sector. The stock overhang has been removed and the sale has got