The UK debt market has had a wild few months. The turmoil was set off last week by the new budget that promised to deliver growth with deficit-financed tax cuts and deregulation. Rates shot up and leveraged pension funds could not make their margin calls, pushing rates higher until the Bank of England intervened. It serves as a reminder that rates don't always raise slowly and predictably. Many countries are vulnerable. It is remarkable that markets punished Gilts, when other countries have much higher debt levels and have even more ambitious (and regressive) spending plans.
Source: Trading Economics
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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