Good morning.
The Bank of England has criticized fellow City regulators over the pensions market fiasco after Andrew Bailey’s intervention triggered a spike in borrowing costs.
In a report published on Wednesday, Threadneedle Street suggests that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pensions Regulator (TPR) have failed to tackle risky investment strategies that have left pension funds exposed to bond market turmoil.
The bank said the TPR – which is chaired by a former pensions industry insider who once worked on the products that sparked the debacle – was responsible for overseeing the schemes that have fallen into turmoil.
5 things to start your day with
1) Bank criticizes city regulators as borrowing costs rise
2) Zero-Covid policy takes China’s growth back to 1970s, warns Lagarde
3) A blame game breaks out over the pension fiasco
4) M&S to close a quarter of its larger stores as it struggles with rising costs
5) IMF calls for austerity to tackle inflation
What happened in one night
Asian shares followed Wall Street lower and bond yields remained low on Thursday as investors weighed the risks of a global recession amid hawkish rhetoric from the Federal Reserve and uncertainty over the Bank of England’s commitment to stabilizing markets.
Recession risks also fueled worries about oil demand, and crude prices failed to rebound after falling 2 percent the previous day.
The dollar held its ground against major rivals as traders awaited US consumer price data that could shed light on the pace of further Fed policy tightening.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.53 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.18 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.02 percent and mainland China blue chips lost 0.64 percent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares sank 0.54 percent to linger near a 2½-year low on Wednesday.
It’s due today
Corporate: DiscoverIE Group, easyJet, Entertain, Hays (commercial reports)
Economy: IMF meeting (US), CPI (US, Germany), jobless claims (US)
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