INDIA: UK-Starmer To Visit Mumbai Next Week; Meetings w/Modi On Trade & Tech
Politico reports that UK PM Sir Keir Starmer is due to visit India's financial capital, Mumbai, next week for talks with PM Narendra Modi and to speak at the Global Fintech Fest 2025. The leaders, senior ministers and officials from both sides will also hold a meeting on advancing the UK-India Technology Security Initiative (TSI), signed in 2024.
- Politico: "The pact covers co-operation on telecoms, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, quantum, bio-tech, advanced materials and semiconductors."
- A joint economic trade council meeting will also take place following the signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) earlier this year, which is due to come into effect in 2026.
- As the East Asia Forum notes, for the UK, "the trade concessions are symbolically generous but economically modest," while for India, "the financial sacrifice is manageable".
- East Asia Forum: "CETA is about more than market access. It includes provisions to streamline customs, align standards and ensure transparency. For the first time in a trade pact, India has agreed to include language on labour standards, gender equality, state-owned enterprises and environmental cooperation. The deal also supports UK investments in future areas of growth such as clean energy, recycling and the circular economy."
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US TSY FUTURES: BLOCK: Dec'25 2Y Buy
- +4,000 TUZ5 104-06.62, buy through 104-06.5 post time offer at 0734:00ET, DV01 $166,400.
- The 2Y contract trades 104-06.5 last (+.25)
UK: Deputy PM Faces Reckoning After Tax Underpayment Revelations
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner faces a political reckoning after confirming her underpayment of stamp duty on a flat in Hove in May 2025. Rayner has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Laurie Magnus, who will now investigate her claims of mitigation around the issue. This will ensure her position in the short-term at least, but leaves her vulnerable to potentially being forced to resign if significant malfeasance is found.
- PM Sir Keir Starmer offered his backing to Rayner in prime minister's questions a short time ago, saying he was "proud" to sit alongside her. Given the substantial pressure Starmer's centre-left Labour gov't is under from the populist right-wing Reform UK in opinion polling, a ministerial scandal comes at the wrong time.
- The scandal is unlikely to have any notable market impact in the short term. If the inquiry results in Rayner's resignation, it would severely dent her prospects of eventualyl taking over as Labour leader. With Starmer's approval ratings falling, speculation has already risen that he could be replaced before the next election. Rayner, from the soft left/left of the party and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a centrist, were viewed as favourites, with Rayner having the edge due to the Labour party grassroots leftward tilt helping her in any leadership election. Today's revelations may change this arithmetic.
GILTS: /STIR: BMO Flag High Levels Of Bad News Priced In
BMO suggest that “expectations for the Budget are so gloomy there is scope for upside surprises”.
- They believe that “market rates have done no more than go back to where they should be. Having reached our targets, the 10-Year yield is back at the top of its YTD range, and the forward strip now discounts a much more reasonable terminal rate for Bank Rate of 3.75%-4.0%”.
- BMO write “the UK does not face problems as worrying as many international peers. For all the fretting, consensus GDP forecasts are 1-1.5% for the next 3 years, stocks are +12% YTD and GBP is near the top of its post-Brexit range”.
- What’s more, they believe that many gilt-bearish triggers present offsetting bullish possibilities:
- Ultimately BMO suggest that “there is now a lot of bad news in the price”. They now recommend “returning to neutral in 2y2y and in 10y yields. 10s30s still looks too flat on an international comparison vs the “overhang” of long-term debt, but the BoE could effectively reduce the overhang at its September meeting, so we would not want to be in a steepener in the run-up to that”.
