With the US beset by political violence and France facing parliamentary gridlock, Britain is rapidly starting to look like “an island of stability”, says Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail.
The “Truss tantrum” is becoming a “distant memory”; the UK has had “two successive quarters of robust growth”, while a “centrist” administration with a big majority” takes the reins. In a sign of growing market confidence, the pound has risen to a one-year high against the US dollar.
After a multi-year slump, sterling has been one of the top-performing currencies so far this year. Stocks haven’t quite joined in, with a 5.5% gain for the FTSE 100 lagging other big markets in 2024. There is a question mark about UK public finances as public borrowing approaches 100% of GDP, say Naomi Rovnick and Anousha Sakoui on Reuters. UK gilts have underperformed their US and German counterparts so far this year.
