US Treasuries fall after Trump administration increases bond buybacks

The US Treasury Department just doubled the size of its bond buyback operations, and the market’s reaction tells you everything about how comfortable investors are with the state of American debt right now. The Treasury raised its maximum buyback size for long-dated nominal securities from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation. The new parameters take effect September 9 and run through November 4, 2026. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the move as addressing thin summer trading conditions and liquidity problems in the long end of the curve, calling any market disruption “temporary noise.” What the numbers say Before the announcement, the 30-year Treasury yield had pushed above 5.33%, a level that makes deficit hawks and mortgage holders equally uncomfortable. After Bessent’s intervention, that yield dropped by roughly 10 basis points to stabilize around 5.18%. This was the second time in August that Bessent stepped in to steady fixed-income markets. The first intervention came earlier in the month alongside coordinated currency measures with Japan, signaling that the Treasury is increasingly willing to use its balance sheet tools when yields threaten to spiral. Bes...