"Weakest demand in 10 years hits gilts auction"

Harriett Harman said that this story was of no significance (I'll put the exact quotation up tomorrow), I am not so sure. The FT report says that:

"A UK government bond auction saw the weakest demand from investors in more than 10 years on Thursday, emphasising the continuing difficulties of debt managers as they attempt to raise money in a stressed financial climate.

The disappointing auction comes a day after the UK Debt Management Office overhauled the way it issues bonds to tackle the problems of weak demand in a market overwhelmed by record amounts of supply.

Mihail Bozinov, fixed income strategist at UBS, said: “This is the worst auction for more than 10 years in terms of demand.”

He said the weak demand was because the bond fell slightly outside the maturity range the Bank of England had pledged to buy in gilts during the next three months, as part of its quantitative easing programme.

The Bank said it would buy up to £75bn in conventional gilts of maturities between five and 25 years.

But Thursday’s bond, which matures on March 7 2014, is shorter than the five-year minimum.

Gilt yields, which have an inverse relationship with prices, had also been dragged lower by the US Federal Reserve’s announcement it intends to buy $300bn in US Treasuries.

That may have made the bond too expensive for some investors.

The five-year auction followed poor demand for an auction of 30-year bonds at the month’s beginning.

However, shorter duration bonds, such as Thursday’s, are typically more liquid and tend to attract higher demand.

Robert Stheeman, chief executive of the DMO, has warned auctions may suffer because of record issuance. "

And so the UK heads closer and closer to bankruptcy, what is the UK's credit rating now? Have the ratings agencies marked the UK down yet?