Closing post
Time to wrap up, after the most turbulent market reaction to a fiscal event that I can remember.
Investors are reeling from Kwasi Kwarteng’s package of huge unfunded tax cuts, and spending pledges such as the energy price freeze.
The pound is languishing at just $1.09 tonight, a 37-year low, and 3.5 cents lighter than yesterday, while UK government bonds have had a shocking day.
The yield, or interest rate, on two-year gilts close to 4% tonight, the highest since 2008, on fears over the huge borrowing ahead.
Here’s are some of our main budget stories:
Politics Live, with my colleagues Andrew Sparrow and Nadeem Badshah, has all the action on a remarkable day.
It’s been a very rough day on the London stock market too.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 has shed 2%, to end the day at a three-month low of 7018 points.
The domestically-focused FTSE 250 index also fell 2%, to its weakest level since November 2020 – when news of successful Covid-19 vaccines triggered a gobal rally.
Recession fears battered European market too, with the German DAX dropping 2%, and France’s CAC down 2.3%.
