Buyers Snub British Debt

In a reminder of how bad things are across the globe, the U.K. failed to find enough buyers for $2.55 billion (1.75 billion pounds) in gilt-edge bonds, Bloomberg is reporting.

This is debt that the U.K. is attempting to sell to raise money to help the country out of its recession. The snub marks the third time in the past 10 years Britain has been unable to complete a debt auction.

This is bad news on its face, but it could be worse news going forward: Prime Minister Gordon Brown hopes to sell $214 billion worth of debt this year and an additional $215 billion next year.

The Treasury was able to sell $2.4 billion worth of the 40-year securities, leaving some $100 million worth of debt unsold.

The failed auction could be a bad sign for a number of nations that hope to sell debt to raise money to dig out of the recession.

The United States plans to triple its debt sales this year to a record $2.5 trillion.

Germany, by comparison, plans a far more modest $470 billion debt offering this year.

-- Frank Ahrens
Sign up to get The Ticker on Twitter