Policy Regula2026-10-08 04:03:08Warren presses Bessent over expanded Treasury buybacks as long-term yields keep climbingU.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.20
US Treasuries2026-10-08 04:00:00Warren presses Bessent over expanded Treasury buybacks as long-end yields keep climbingU.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.20
Bessent2026-09-21 12:26:13U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent Says 30-Year Yield Has Not Risen Sharply Since Treasury Buyback ExpansionU.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the 30-year yield has not increased sharply since the expansion of Treasury buybacks, according to a newsflash published by Odaily. He did not comment on whether he agrees with Federal Reserve rate hikes. The update was categorized under policy and regulation. No additional details were provided in the source beyond the remarks on long-dated yields and his decision not to state a position on Fed tightening. The item was published on Sept. 21, 2026, and presented as a brief market and policy-related update.340
US Treasury2026-09-09 03:09:00Treasury Secretary Bessent says buybacks are not QE, challenges yen shortsU.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the Treasury’s expanded buybacks of older 10- to 20-year Treasuries are meant to steady long-term yields and cool what he described as “frenzy” in the bond market, not to restart quantitative easing. Speaking at a Breitbart News event in Washington, he framed the move as a maturity-structure adjustment similar to “Operation Twist” and rejected the idea that the action reflects credit concerns. Market expectations for the current round of buybacks start at no less than $4 billion. If the operation comes in closer to $10 billion, market participants see that as a possible benchmark for future operations and one that could push down long-end yields. Morgan Stanley said $10 billion is close to the current operational ceiling, while Wrightson ICAP called $5 billion to $6 billion a reasonable starting point. Bessent also commented on yen intervention, saying he is “the house” and would use an informational edge against traders shorting the Japanese currency. Separately, Bloomberg reported that the Bank of Japan is currently inclined to raise its benchmark rate by 25 basis points on Sept. 18, a policy shift that could support the yen.810
US Treasury2026-09-08 16:38:57US Treasury Secretary says expanded buyback plan was meant to cool bond market frenzyUS Treasury Secretary Bessent said on Sept. 9 that last month’s expansion of the US Treasury buyback program was intended to calm what he described as a growing "frenzy" in the bond market and help prices move back toward equilibrium. He said the Treasury cannot set the market’s equilibrium price, but it can try to reduce excessive speculation. Bessent also pushed back on the idea that Treasury buybacks are equivalent to Federal Reserve quantitative easing. He said the measure is closer to the Fed’s past Operation Twist than to QE. In his remarks, he added that if investors were genuinely worried about the creditworthiness of US debt, they would be selling Treasuries and buying German government bonds, but he said current market behavior does not show that. The comments came after the yield on the 30-year US Treasury rose to its highest level since 2007, the backdrop to the enlarged buyback plan.840
US Treasury2026-09-08 16:38:45Bessent says expanded Treasury buybacks were meant to cool bond-market excessU.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the decision to expand the U.S. Treasury buyback program last month was aimed at calming what he described as overheated sentiment in the bond market and helping prices move back toward balance. He also rejected the idea that Treasury repurchases should be viewed as equivalent to Federal Reserve quantitative easing. Instead, Bessent said the measure was closer to the Fed’s past Operation Twist-style approach. The remarks frame the buyback expansion as a market-stabilizing step rather than a form of monetary stimulus, according to the information provided by ChainCatcher.760
Federal Reser2026-08-28 07:55:27Warsh’s Jackson Hole Debut Puts Focus on Whether the Fed Will Back Treasury BuybacksFederal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is set to deliver his first Jackson Hole keynote at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, or 10 p.m. Taiwan time, and markets are watching for far more than a rate signal. The central question is whether Warsh hints at any Federal Reserve alignment with the U.S. Treasury’s new long-dated Treasury buyback plan. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Aug. 19 that the government would at least double the size of long-term Treasury buybacks, lifting each operation from $2 billion to at least $4 billion, with the first round scheduled from Sept. 9 to Nov. 4. The move came as 30-year yields climbed to their highest level since 2007. Markets have taken that as a sign that officials want to cap long-term borrowing costs, though the report notes the program is not quantitative easing and does not inject fresh liquidity. BlockTempo said Bitcoin climbed from $64,000 to $80,000 in a week, while gold also rallied as traders priced in the possibility of fiscal dominance and eventual Fed support. According to the report, Friday’s speech may matter most not for any new policy pledge, but for whether Warsh draws a clear line between the Fed and Treasury, or leaves room for markets to assume closer coordination.1080
Deutsche Bank2026-08-27 05:21:13Deutsche Bank sees more active Treasury intervention in U.S. debt managementDeutsche Bank strategists said the U.S. Treasury is likely to take a more active approach to debt management after announcing that it would double the size of its long-end Treasury buybacks. Rather than making a sharp policy shift, the bank expects the Treasury to move through incremental adjustments while broadening the way it communicates with markets. According to the strategists, the Treasury may also step up communication outside its quarterly refunding process and use more deliberate policy signaling as a tool. They added that the flexibility preserved in last week’s announcement language could allow the department to raise the size of long-end buyback operations to above the initially proposed minimum of $4 billion. The note also said long-end Treasury buybacks typically draw bids of as much as $20 billion, giving the Treasury meaningful room to increase operation sizes in the near term. Deutsche Bank further said the Treasury could choose not to specify the exact size of long-end buybacks when releasing an updated buyback schedule, keeping more room to adjust operations later.870
