Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sale of British Bonds Falls Short

Pretty bad omen for Europe - the British government failed to find enough buyers for its sale of
£1.75 billion of 40-year bonds. This follows Germany's failed bond sale I reported on in early January (see Jan 9th post - "Germany's Failed Bond Sale - Omninous Sign?")

Of course several people are coming out and saying that one failed auction shouldn't be a cause for concern. However, I beg to differ and believe that such announcements will become more frequent as Western governments try to fund their ballooning deficits.

Perhaps even more concerning for the US is that the Chinese keep on scolding us for our fiscal deficits - though thankfully continuing to dutifully send us their money. Unfortunately, there appears to be a limit to their generosity and I fear we are bumping up against it.
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Sale of British Bonds Falls Short

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: March 25, 2009
LONDON — An auction of British government bonds failed to find enough buyers for the first time in almost seven years in a sign that investors’ appetite for risk remains low and raising concern about Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plan to revive the economy.
Investors bid for £1.63 billion of the £1.75 billion of 40-year bonds. Britain plans to sell a record £146.4 billion of debt in a year to help its economy back on its feet but the government received an unusual warning from the Bank of England governor Mervyn King on Tuesday about rising government debt levels. His caution raised concerns among debt investors about Britain’s ability to increase debt further.

But some analysts said that one failed auction is no cause for concern and pointed out that the market ended higher on Wednesday. “One undersubscribed auction doesn’t mean the U.K. will have trouble funding but they won’t want to make a habit of it,” said Laurence Mutkin, head of European fixed-income strategy at Morgan Stanley in London. “This is not about the gilts but about the market. Balance sheets are under pressure and the risk appetite is low.”
The last bond auction in Britain that failed was for inflation-linked bonds in 2002.
Britain’s economy shrank 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter and the government put together a fiscal stimulus package together with monetary easing to help pull the economy out of the recession. The Bank of England, which already lowered the interest rate to almost zero, decided earlier this month to start printing 75 billion pounds in money to buy bonds.

The International Monetary Fund predicted Britain will have a deficit of 11 percent of G.D.P. in 2010, the highest in the Group of 20. The popularity of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has to call an election before the middle of next year, declined over the last month as consumers become increasingly concerned about the level of government debt that is expected to translate into higher taxes in years to come.

A government spokesman played down the significance of the failed auction, saying the shortfall can be made good in future auctions. The Debt Management Office, which manages bond auctions on behalf of the British Treasury, said in December that it was aware that selling debt in the current environment could be challenging and that it might join Ireland, Spain and Belgium in using banks to ensure sufficient demand.

Governments compete to sell records amounts of debt to revive their economies. Germany plans to sell 346 billion euros of bonds this year and Goldman Sachs Group estimates U.S. sales would reach a record $2.5 trillion this year.

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