Investor fears mount as market sell-off intensifies

The cost of government borrowing over 10 years briefly surged to its highest level since 2008, as investors demanded higher returns to lend to the UK. The Bank has been buying government bonds to prevent a sell-off which could put some pension schemes at risk. On Wednesday it stressed this help would end on Friday come what may.

The Bank first stepped in last month after promises of huge, unfunded tax cuts in the chancellor’s “mini-budget” sparked a dramatic reaction on financial markets.

The pound hit a record low and bond prices fell sharply, forcing the Bank to promise to buy up to £65bn of government bonds to support their price. So far it has only spent around £10bn of this pledged amount.

But while the intervention initially worked, bond yields – in other words the interest rates the government pays to investors – are now close to or above the highs seen straight after the mini-budget.

On Wednesday, government borrowing costs over 20 and 30 years both hit their highest levels since 2002.

The pound remained stable at $1.10 against the US dollar.

The movements came after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey bluntly told pensions funds they they had “three days left now and you’ve got to sort it out”.

Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets, said: “Bailey has to give the message that the Bank is ready to walk away but fundamentally there has to be a big question mark over that and whether the Bank carries on, or whether financial stability risks continue and the Bank comes back to the market.”

The UK government raises money it needs for spending by selling bonds – a form of debt that is paid back plus interest in anywhere between five and 30 years.

Pension funds invest in bonds because they provide a low but usually reliable return over a long period of time.

However, the sharp fall in their value after the mini-budget forced pension funds to sell bonds, threatening to create a “downward spiral” in their prices as more were offloaded, which left some funds close to collapse.

Earlier, pensions industry body the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association had warned the Bank against the help ending “too soon”.

It suggested the support should be extended until 31 October, when chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is due to detail his economic plan explaining how he will balance the public finances. The statement will be accompanied by independent forecasts on the prospects for the UK economy.

Mr Bailey told the BBC he had stayed up all night to try and find a way to calm markets and said the Bank was doing everything it could to preserve financial stability, but said it had always been clear that the help would be temporary.

“I’m afraid this has to be done, for the sake of financial stability,” he added.

The recent turmoil has fed through to the mortgage market, where hundreds of products have been suspended as the volatility has made it difficult for lenders to know how to price these long-term loans.

Last week, interest rates on typical two and five-year fixed rate mortgages topped 6% for the first time in over a decade.

On Wednesday, the Bank said this was likely to put households under severe pressure next year. The number having to spend 70% or more of their disposable income on mortgage rates and essentials is set to reach its highest level since before the financial crisis in 2008, it said.

The government has said it remains confident in its tax cuts plan, with Mr Kwarteng telling MPs he was “relentlessly focused on growing the economy” and “raising living standards”.

But Mr Bailey’s words further increase the pressure on the government, and the chancellor, to come up with an economically credible and politically viable debt plan, and quickly.

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This is a Tory crisis that has been made in Downing Street, and that is being paid for by working people.”

Former IMF deputy director Mohamed El-Erian told BBC News that the economy was on “shaky ground”.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report on Tuesday, the IMF acknowledged the mini-budget would “lift growth somewhat in the near term”, although it would “complicate the fight” against the cost-of-living crisis.