The UK government has just paid its steepest price yet to borrow long-term, a sign of how exposed public finances have become to a worsening global bond sell-off. A £4bn sale of 30-year gilts this week was priced at a 5.82% yield - the highest on any gilt issuance since the Debt Management Office was founded in 1998.

The DMO's chief executive, Jessica Pulay, framed the sale as evidence the gilt market remains deep and well-supported despite turbulence. But the underlying story is less reassuring. Yields have climbed steadily since the pandemic, and the Iran war's impact on oil prices, alongside broader worries about a global debt glut, has pushed borrowing costs even higher. Fund manager Gordon Shannon noted the moves are driven by global forces, but still represent a real tightening of domestic financing conditions that will limit the chancellor's room for manoeuvre in next month's Budget.

The stakes are significant. Debt interest payments now cost the UK around £110bn a year - more than the defence, Home Office and justice budgets combined, according to Chancellor John Healey. Even so, demand for the new gilts held up, with the order book exceeding £85bn; some investors see the UK's comparatively high yields as an opportunity rather than a warning sign.

The UK is not alone: French and German long-term yields also hit multi-year highs this week, as markets price in fewer rate cuts and grapple with an inflationary oil shock.

- George Tyson

Nairametrics recently reported that OPay, the Fintech giant, is considering a listing on the Nigerian Exchange, with an official announcement said to be imminent. The move marks a shift in tone. When news first broke that the company was pursuing a $4 billion US IPO, the backlash was swift — NGX Group CEO Temi Popoola even travelled to Abuja to press President Tinubu to compel Nigerian-grown firms like OPay to list at home. Whether the Nigerian leg comes alongside the US IPO or as a standalone deal is still unclear, but the signal is unmistakable: home-court pressure is working.

This continues a theme defining Nigerian capital markets in 2026: whether the NGX can hold onto its biggest homegrown successes, or whether they inevitably outgrow it. The Dangote Refinery IPO raised that question for heavy industry; OPay raises it for tech. Both ask the same thing — can Nigerian capital markets absorb transactions of real scale without routing them through London or New York?

A second thread is worth watching. PalmPay, OPay's closest competitor, has been eyeing a Hong Kong listing of its own. If NGX pressure sways OPay, PalmPay may face similar scrutiny, and a Lagos listing could become the fintech sector's default rather than the exception.

A confirmed OPay listing would be a symbolic win for the NGX, proof that scale and homegrown ambition aren't mutually exclusive. But the real test is whether it's followed by PalmPay and others, turning a one-off concession into a lasting pattern.

- Emmanuel Chukwuani

The Strait of Hormuz is responsible for approximately a fifth of liquefied natural gas trade flows, along with being critical for other petroleum products. Unfortunately, as Washington and Tehran continue to spar following the collapse of the ceasefire in July, traders and analysts have lost confidence that the waterway will reopen anytime soon.

Europe and the rest of the world are now bearing a $38.0Bn rise in the cost of importing LNG. This reflects a 67% premium (both basins combined) being paid for LNG - a figure that already reflects the fall in demand and excludes any freight/war premiums shipping companies would be paying. Buyers are paying $22.83/MMBtu at the beginning of this week, the highest level since January 2023.

While there has been no unified EU response yet, earlier in the war, countries such as Spain and Germany employed national tax and price measures to ease pump prices and soften the blow on businesses and households. Analysts have also been monitoring European storage strategies, suggesting that the EU could intervene in the market with a coordinated response.

As of now, the European response has been largely reactive rather than structural. The data emphasises that deeper decarbonisation and more joint strategies between countries are needed to combat the energy crisis.

- Chandresh Mohan

1. Horizon funds (AWM): Goldman Sachs Asset Management's first dedicated climate private equity fund, Horizon Environment & Climate Solutions I, closed at over $1.6 billion in January 2023, run by a Sustainable Investing Group set up in 2020. Horizon is now the firm's platform for direct sustainable investing in private markets, with funds including Horizon Inclusive Growth and Horizon Energy Storage.

2. Community TeamWorks: Staff are encouraged to take a paid day off to volunteer in teams with local nonprofits. In 2025, 24,000 volunteers completed over 107,000 hours across 701 nonprofit partners.

3. Analyst Impact Fund: It's an annual global competition where analyst teams pitch senior leaders, including CEO David Solomon, for grants to a nonprofit of their choice. The 2025 edition was the tenth; about 1,000 analysts took part, over $500,000 went to the top 25 teams, and the final was held in London. The $250,000 winner was Jacaranda Health, which provides digital prenatal care to mothers in Africa. A London team came second and won Fan Favourite with Lifelites, which provides assistive technology for children with life-limiting conditions. Over ten years, more than 6,800 analysts from nearly 70 offices have directed $5.5m+ to 168 nonprofits.

Until next time,

The Long and Short

Markets, Made Sense