Littlewood shorts gilts as he warns UK 'only slightly better off' than Portugal

Artemis' William Littlewood has moved to a short position in gilts in his £971m Strategic Assets fund, warning the UK's debt position is almost as bad as Portugal's.

Littlewood said he is short gilts, as well as US treasuries and Japanese government bonds, with the UK’s fiscal position looking increasingly comparable to the struggling European state. “The underlying government financials in the UK are only slightly better than those of Portugal, and I have shorted US, Japanese and UK government bonds,” he said. UK government debt levels have soared as a result of QE, and, according to the latest figures from Eurostat, the UK’s budget deficit is worse than Portugal’s, accounting for 10.4% of GDP compared to 9.1% for Portugal. Littlewood also shot ...