Mini Budget triggers plunging pound and massive gilt sell-off

Pound falls to 1985 levels

The pound dropped below $1.10 for the first time in 37 years, following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s Mini Budget today (23 September).

The briefly pound fell to $1.0995 in the hours after the chancellor's speech, edging closer to the currency's all time low of $1.054 in February 1985. Meanwhile, major concerns around debt sustainability have triggered a sell-off in the gilt market, with five-year gilt yields rising almost half a percentage point to 4.05%, the biggest single-day rise since 1991. This was accompanied with the daily rise in ten-year yields since 1998, and the biggest daily rise in two-year lending since 2009. Mini Budget 22: Government to target growth of 2.5% Following the Mini Budget, the Debt M...