Risk assets are down across the board, and it seems the UK government couldn’t have picked a worse day to announce its dramatic tax-cutting agenda.

Selling intensifies across stocks

“The Dow has pushed to a new 22-month low, if only just, in trading this afternoon, as the sea of red that has dominated for most of the week continued to flow over global markets. There is no sign of any dip buying, and instead investors seem to be content to keep selling stocks as the global outlook worsens once again. With bond and FX markets under pressure too, this is turning into a disorderly rout, and no one seems to want to be left holding the bag.”

Pound in full-blown rout against the dollar

“We have to go back to March 2020 and the wild swings of the pandemic to find a time when the pound last suffered such a terrible week against the US dollar. Those hoping for a vote of confidence from the market in the government’s ambitious tax-cutting programme have been sorely disappointed; instead of giving people reason to be confident about the UK economy, they seem merely to have provided another reason to flock to the safety of the dollar.”
 

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