TGA

Policy Regula

2026-10-08 04:03:08

Warren presses Bessent over expanded Treasury buybacks as long-term yields keep climbing

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent is facing fresh scrutiny after expanding long-dated Treasury buybacks while long-term yields continue to rise. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter on Wednesday asking the Treasury Department to explain a series of recent actions in the government bond market. She described them as an "unprecedented and chaotic intervention" and asked whether Treasury plans to fund additional long-bond buybacks by reducing the cash balance in the Treasury General Account, or TGA. Warren also asked whether Treasury is weighing other steps to push down long-term yields and how much higher rates have already fed through to household borrowing costs such as mortgages and auto loans. She requested a response by Oct. 21. The questions come after Treasury unexpectedly expanded long-bond repurchases on Aug. 19, outside its usual quarterly financing window, lifting the cap on some 10-year to 30-year buybacks from $2 billion to $6 billion. Bessent said the move was meant to improve liquidity in older issues, but his public comments also led markets to see the program as an attempt to slow the rise in long-term yields. So far, that has not happened: the 10-year yield has climbed back to its highest level since 2002, while the 30-year yield has hovered near 5.7%, close to a more than two-decade high.

570

US Treasuries

2026-10-08 04:00:00

Warren presses Bessent over expanded Treasury buybacks as long-end yields keep climbing

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent is facing fresh scrutiny after the Treasury expanded its long-dated bond buyback program while long-term yields kept rising. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, asked the department to explain whether it plans to fund more buybacks by drawing down the Treasury General Account, and whether other steps to bring down long-term borrowing costs are under consideration. The questions follow the Treasury’s Aug. 19 decision to increase single-operation buyback caps on some 10-year to 30-year bonds from $2 billion to $6 billion outside the usual quarterly refunding window, a move that surprised parts of Wall Street. Bessent said the goal was to improve liquidity in older issues, but his public remarks also led markets to see the program as an effort to slow the rise in long-term yields. Reuters previously reported that the Treasury has accepted only about half of the securities offered in recent buybacks, leaving actual purchases below the published caps. That gap has added to debate over whether the program is about market functioning, yield management, or both.

570

Bessent

2026-08-26 02:55:00

Bessent Seen Using Treasury Market Tactics to Trigger a Bond Short Squeeze Before Midterms

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent is being portrayed as using a set of debt-market interventions to push Treasury yields lower ahead of the midterm elections, with a reported focus on taking the 10-year yield toward 4.3%. The argument, cited in commentary carried by PANews and attributed in part to Fox Business reporter Charlie Gasparino, is that the goal is less about reversing the structural rise in yields and more about exploiting a fragile positioning setup in the bond market. The reported toolkit includes Treasury buybacks, increased issuance of short-dated debt, and even the removal of ultra-long maturities such as the 20-year bond. So far, the impact has been limited. Yields continued to rise with oil prices earlier in the week, and only edged lower after the Treasury told CNBC it could use as much as $954 billion from the Treasury General Account, or TGA, for support. The positioning backdrop is central to the thesis. Goldman Sachs’ futures desk said CTA and trend-following funds are holding sizable bond short positions, measured at about $155 million in DV01. Goldman estimates that if bond prices rise by two standard deviations over one month, short covering and renewed buying could reach $150 million in DV01, a level the report says would mark a record. The political window is also explicit: roughly two months remain before the midterms.

1390

Policy Regula

2026-08-25 06:37:09

Treasuries, Gold and Bitcoin Rise Together as Tech Stocks Extend Losses

U.S. Treasuries, gold and Bitcoin moved higher on Aug. 25 while oil prices fell and technology shares stayed under pressure, reflecting a market driven by policy signals rather than a simple flight-to-safety trade. Investors focused on reports that the U.S. Treasury could tap cash in the Treasury General Account, or TGA, to fund a larger buyback of long-dated government bonds, a step some traders see as a stronger tool to support the long end of the market. At the same time, Washington’s approach toward Iran appeared to shift, at least for now, from military escalation to economic pressure, helping reduce the oil market’s geopolitical risk premium. Even so, the bond story did not translate into a broad equity rebound. Wall Street remained divided on whether expanded buybacks can do much more than improve liquidity and smooth supply in older issues, with banks including Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo arguing that deficits, inflation persistence and term premium pressures still dominate the long end. Meanwhile, AI and semiconductor shares continued to weaken. Nvidia marked a seventh straight daily decline, its longest losing streak since September 2022, as investors cut exposure ahead of earnings, the Jackson Hole central bank symposium and fresh U.S. policy headlines.

1140

US Treasury

2026-08-25 03:49:53

US Treasury sets Sept. 9 bond buyback as markets watch possible use of TGA cash

US Treasury Secretary Bessent said on Monday that the Treasury will carry out its next bond buyback on Sept. 9 and suggested more operations could follow. The date is not the launch of a brand-new program, but the point when the Treasury’s previously announced expansion of long-dated bond buybacks takes effect. Under the plan unveiled on Aug. 19, liquidity support buybacks for nominal Treasuries in the 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year sectors will at least double, with the cap for each operation raised from $2 billion to at least $4 billion through Nov. 4. Markets are also weighing a CNBC report that the Treasury is considering tapping the Treasury General Account, which stands at about $950 billion, as a potential funding source for the expanded program. Treasury officials cited in the report did not disclose how much of the TGA might be used or when. The funding question matters because investors had largely assumed the Treasury would finance long-bond repurchases by issuing more short-term bills. Even so, the recent rally in long-dated Treasuries after the Aug. 19 announcement faded quickly, with prices falling over the following two sessions as attention returned to the US fiscal deficit, long-term debt supply and inflation pressures.

1300

U.S. Treasury

2026-08-24 13:10:43

US Treasury’s Bond Buyback Plan May Have Only About $200 Billion in Actual Firepower

BlockBeats reported on August 24 that analyst qinbafrank pushed back against the market view that the U.S. Treasury could tap nearly $1 trillion to fund a larger Treasury buyback program. He said the amount actually available is far smaller. Based on 2024 cash-flow data, roughly $700 billion plus is needed to keep the Treasury General Account within a one-week operating range, leaving only about $200 billion that could be deployed in the near term. He also warned that once that money is spent, the Treasury would need to rebuild the TGA by issuing debt again, which would draw liquidity back out of the market. That means any short-term boost from TGA spending could be followed by renewed pressure from the replenishment process. qinbafrank added that Bitcoin is closely tied to dollar liquidity, so TGA drawdowns may support risk assets while TGA refills tighten conditions again.

1190

US Treasury

2026-08-24 11:51:40

US Treasury may tap TGA to fund expanded bond buyback plan

The US Treasury may draw on the Treasury General Account, or TGA, which holds close to $1 trillion, to finance its recently expanded government bond purchase program, according to CNBC, citing two senior Treasury officials. The potential use of the account would give the department greater capacity to influence long-term bond yields and could alter how markets view the buyback strategy. Last week, the Treasury unexpectedly said it would raise repurchases of long-dated off-the-run securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the size of those operations could exceed the new minimum, though the department did not say at the time how it would pay for the purchases. Many market participants had expected the Treasury to fund the program by increasing issuance of short-term Treasury bills. If the TGA is used instead, that would mark a different funding route. The TGA is effectively the federal government's checking account at the Federal Reserve, with balances sourced from existing tax revenue.

1240

US Treasury

2026-08-24 11:48:04

US Treasury May Tap Nearly $1 Trillion TGA to Fund Expanded Bond Buybacks

The US Treasury may use the Treasury General Account, or TGA, which holds nearly $1 trillion, to help finance its recently expanded government bond repurchase program, CNBC reported, citing two senior Treasury officials. The move would give the department greater ability to influence longer-term bond yields. Last week, the Treasury unexpectedly said it would raise buybacks of long-dated off-the-run securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the size of those operations could exceed that new minimum, though the department did not explain at the time how the purchases would be funded. Before this report, most market participants had expected the Treasury to raise money by increasing issuance of short-term Treasury bills. If the department instead draws on the TGA, that could alter how the market views the plan. The TGA is effectively the US government’s checking account at the Federal Reserve, and the funds in it come from existing tax revenue.

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