The US Treasury secretary’s pledge to expand a bond buyback program in order to lower borrowing costs did little to quell market unease.
Scott Bessent’s remarks to CNBC followed this week’s announcement of the government’s unusual intervention in longer-dated debt, a move that initially cooled bond yields before the optimism fizzled.
Economists have voiced skepticism over the long-term impact of the strategy: One told The Wall Street Journal it was “a Band-Aid … [that] doesn’t really fix the problem,” which experts say includes Washington’s surging debt levels, persistent inflation, and worries over broader corporate borrowing to fuel an AI buildout. “It’s a little bit like paying your mortgage with your credit card,” a JP Morgan analyst told CNBC.
