The Bank of England ditched its plan to sell some of its holdings of long-term bonds next week, after U.S. Treasuries led a rout in the global government bond market.
Stock markets have taken a hit since President Trump announced steep tariffs on dozens of countries, but the turmoil also swept into the bond market this week. Yields on U.S. Treasuries, which move in the opposite direction to prices, jumped higher as investors sold the assets traditionally considered a haven in turbulent times.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday paused some of his tariffs, saying the markets were getting “yippy.” The U.S. government bond market is enormous and can influence moves in other assets around the world.
Yields on British government bonds, known as gilts, have jumped higher in recent days, particularly long-dated debt. The yield on the 30-year gilt soared to 5.58 percent on Wednesday, the highest since 1998.
Even as the yield came down somewhat on Thursday, the Bank of England said it would sell 750 million pounds, or $970 million, from its holdings of short-term bonds instead of longer-maturing ones “in light of recent market volatility.”
Since late 2022, the Bank of England has been selling bonds that it bought to bolster the economy during the 2008 financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. The plan got off to a rough start: It was delayed when the central bank stepped back in to buy bonds to halt the turmoil triggered when former Prime Minister Liz Truss proposed an aggressive tax-cutting budget that incited market chaos.
Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, has previously said that there would be a “high bar” for changes to its plan for gilt sales outside of the regular annual review process.
The adjustment to the schedule on Thursday is an unusual move. The bank will sell the same amount of bonds. But by offloading short-term debt the pressure is reduced on long-term bonds — selling of those bonds by other investors has been the most intense and raised interest rates for government borrowing.
Long-dated gilt sales will be rescheduled for next quarter, the central bank said. It owns £621 billion in gilts, down from £875 billion at its peak in early 2022.