Published by Mark Smith-HalvorsenThe Lib-Con coalition's tough austerity measures are proving a boon for UK corporate bonds, as traders are confident the country will hang on to its AAA credit rating.Bloomberg data shows that UK corporate bonds outperformed bonds from the other nine countries that constitute nearly 90 per cent of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Corporate Index, with average returns of 3.25 per cent seen last month.Abbey National and Tesco led the market, registering returns as high as 12.7 per cent.Christian Weber, a senior credit strategist at UniCredit SpA in Munich, said the markets are happy with Cameron's austerity strategy."The perception has spread that it's better to actually tackle budget deficits than just keep spending and spending and spending, because that limits your ability in the future to help your economy stabilise," he explained.However, Forex Hound reports this morning (September 3rd) that persistent concerns about a manufacturing slowdown are continuing to put pressure on the pound in global forex trading, with the downside target set at $1.5113.For more information on foreign exchange treasury services and risk management, visit our Corporate FX site.