| [National Review] A heavily indebted debtor is not well-advised to be seen to play games with his creditors, and that was what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was widely perceived to have done a couple weeks ago. Yields on 30-year Treasuries had been trending up for some time and had reached 5.33 percent, their highest level since 2001 (a number worth watching by mortgage borrowers too). And so the Treasury announced (choosing unusual timing given the refunding cycle) that it would be buying longer bonds with short-term maturities. This only had a brief effect on the 30-years. It took a second announcement doubling the size of the proposed buyback to make a somewhat more lasting dent, possibly helped by a slight easing of oil prices. The yield on the 30-years is around 5.19 now. Was the Treasury playing games in order to nudge long-term rates down a little? |