Quilter Investors' Lindsay James: Investor vigilance needed as era of US advantage erodes

Reserve currency status 'not immutable'

All eyes are focusing sharply on the rising costs of US government debt.

Investors are having to weigh up whether recent earth tremors in bond markets are a warning of something of greater magnitude ahead or simply the rumblings of a system that has seen peacetime debts reach levels previously only seen in times of war.   The US stands as the world's largest debtor nation, with a national debt exceeding $34trn and a current account deficit that continues to widen. Persistent trade deficits, a low national savings rate, a high fiscal deficit and a strong dollar are all contributory factors, exacerbated by double-digit savings ratios in China and the eurozon...