It was Bill Clinton’s political adviser James Carville, way back in the 1990s, who said that in another life he would like to “come back as the bond market” – in preference to a president or a pope – because “you can intimidate everybody”.
Even Donald Trump, that most wilful of politicians, has been forced to retreat in the face of bond market moves in recent months, ditching the most extreme of his “reciprocal” tariffs after US Treasury yields jumped.
And despite the traditional status of US Treasuries (government bonds) as a safe haven for global investors, it is still not clear how well financial markets will be able to swallow the $3.3tn increase in debt coming down the tracks if Trump’s “big beautiful bill” is passed.
So when investors dumped gilts (UK government bonds) on Wednesday, as Rachel Reeves wept in the Commons, it was an abrupt reminder that Labour backbenchers were not the only audience the…
