Liontrust's Roberts: Why I remain bearish on gilts (despite supportive data)

Brexit concerns

Weak headline UK data support gilt prices once again but I remain reluctant to invest my own cash, never mind my clients', in this market.

Of course, all needs taken in context. UK CPI at the headline level (which, one must remember, is the Monetary Policy Committee [MPC] target) remained high in June, printing at 2.4%. It was similar with retail sales: we had a blowout number for the month of May and it does look as if economist estimates for June were just too high. Even with this supposed miss, the annualised rate of retail sales growth remains the second highest since the end of 2016 and at a level much of the developed world would give its eye teeth for. We are of course in the business of trying to predict where...