Britain's new finance minister Jeremy Hunt faces an early test of his attempt to stem the crisis of confidence in Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday when the bond market delivers its verdict on his weekend overhaul of her economic programme, Reuters reported. Truss fired her friend Kwasi Kwarteng and named Hunt as her new chancellor of the exchequer on Friday in the hope of recovering some economic policy credibility and staying in Downing Street, little more than month after she moved in.

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s administration is preparing to abandon a central part of its tax-cutting agenda following weeks of chaos in financial markets, Bloomberg News reported. Officials at 10 Downing Street and the Treasury are drafting options for Truss, but no final decision has been taken, according to a person familiar. The premier could scrap her pledge to keep corporation tax unchanged next year, and instead raise it as planned by her predecessor Boris Johnson.

The Bank of England said Wednesday that its program of bond purchases to support U.K. pension funds would end Friday as planned, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The governor confirmed this position yesterday and it has been made absolutely clear in contact with the banks at senior levels,” the BOE said. The central bank began buying U.K. government bonds on Sept. 28 after an unpopular package of tax cuts sent jitters through the country’s markets. The volatility sparked margin calls for pension funds that use a strategy known as liability-driven investing, or LDIs.

British government borrowing costs surged again on Wednesday after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told pension funds they had three days to fix liquidity problems before the bank ends emergency bond-buying that has provided support, Reuters reported. Twenty and 30-year gilt yields both hit their highest since 2002 at 5.195% and 5.1% respectively, passing above 5% for the first time since the BoE began buying bonds on Sept. 28 to calm turmoil triggered by Prime Minister Liz Truss's tax cut plans.

The number of Scottish companies falling into administration more than quadrupled in the third quarter, new analysis shows, amid fears that worse is to come as surging interest rates and rampant inflation take a toll, Herald Scotland reported. Fourteen companies based in Scotland fell into administration between July and September, up from three during the April to June period, analysis of figures in The Gazette by insolvency and restructuring practice Interpath Advisory shows. Interpath Advisory noted the situation in Scotland “mirrors the UK picture”.

The Bank of England extended support targeted at pension funds for the second day in a row, the latest attempt to contain the fallout of a furious bond-market selloff that has threatened U.K. financial stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank on Tuesday said that it would add inflation-linked government bonds to its program of bond purchases after a fresh attempt on Monday to help pension funds failed to calm markets. The bank said it would buy up to £5 billion of index-linked gilts each day through Friday, equivalent to $5.5 billion.

A crisis in U.K. government debt markets accelerated after a fresh attempt by the Bank of England to extend support to pension funds failed to assuage worried investors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The U.K.’s central bank said Monday that it would increase the daily amounts it was willing to buy in long-dated bonds before ending the program it established last month as scheduled on Friday. It also unveiled two types of lending facilities aimed at freeing up cash for pension funds beyond the end of the bond buying. The moves appeared to backfire, with yields on 30-year U.K.

British businesses' expectations for consumer price inflation in one year's time rose to 9.5% last month, up from 8.4% in August, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. The BoE's Decision Maker Panel survey of chief financial officers also showed that businesses expected output prices to rise by 6.6% in the year ahead, up from expectations of 6.5% in August. The survey was conducted between Sept. 2 and 16 and received 2,522 responses. Read more.

The derivatives-based investment strategy that tipped the U.K.’s pension sector into crisis started with good intentions: Help companies fulfill promises they made to employees to pay a steady income through retirement, the Wall Street Journal reported. Behind the push into that strategy, say pension trustees and their advisers, was the Pensions Regulator, the U.K.’s powerful watchdog, charged with safeguarding the savings of millions of private-sector workers. The regulator steered private pension funds to adopt liability-driven investments, known as LDIs, linked to returns on U.K.

Asset managers including Blackrock Inc. and Schroders Plc are limiting institutional investors’ withdrawals from some UK property funds after a wave of requests to move money, Bloomberg News reported. Schroders’ UK Real Estate fund has deferred redemptions due at the start of October to as late as July 2023, which will give the £2.8 billion ($3.2 billion) fund more time to ensure it has enough cash to cover the payments, according to a statement on its website.