20 January 2026
The extraordinary rise in long dated bond yields – Download Chart of the week
The Market Place – Download Market Data
- Political pressure on the Fed and aggressive tariff threats from the US presidency were major drivers of market volatility, sending investors into safe havens and shaking confidence in traditional policy frameworks.
- The UK faced heightened geopolitical risk from US trade threats, while benefiting from strong gilt performance as easing rate expectations and inflation data focused investor attention on upcoming Bank of England decisions.
- The combination of US–EU trade tensions and political fragmentation within the bloc heightened risk perceptions for European markets.
- China strengthened trade defences and markets held firm on easing inflation, Japan neared a snap election, while global uncertainty over policy interference drove gold to records and pressured equities worldwide, sentiment, volatility.
