Fresh hits for pound and long-term borrowing costs as Reeves heads for China
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The pound has come under renewed pressure at the end of a torrid week for the UK currency, falling to fresh 14-month lows against the dollar. Sterling lost almost a cent, to stand just above $1.22 at one stage, on the back of higher support for the greenback after US employment data came in much stronger than expected.
It was seen as denting the prospects for US central bank rate cuts this year - a scenario that tends to be supportive of a domestic currency. That has not been the case for the UK, however, which is also seeing the prospects for rate cuts this year slip away.
Politics latest: Reeves arriving in China despite pressure to cancel trip. The pound is on course to have lost more than 2% this week on the back of a growing crisis of confidence in the country's economic prospects and state of the public finances under chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Financial markets now expect to see just one rate reduction by the Bank of England this year due to stubbornly high inflation and a flatlining economy. Britain's gas storage levels 'concerningly low' after cold snap. Why the financial market mood has shifted against the UK.
Ticket re-sales could be capped under crackdown on touts. The main worry is that the UK is facing a slew of higher prices as businesses have warned they will pass on budget tax hikes from April at a time when a raft of other bills are also due to shoot up.
