Treasury Yield Relief From Bessent's Buyback Doubling Reverses Within a Day

One day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday that Treasury would at least double the size of its long-end buyback operations — from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation across the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors, effective September 9 through November 4 — the relief rally reversed. Wednesday's announcement had pulled the 10-year note down 5.7 basis points to 4.647% and the 30-year bond down 9 basis points to 5.196%, with Bessent signaling the buyback size could go even higher. But by Thursday, yields on the 10-year moved back up more than 5 basis points to 4.704% and the 30-year rose a similar amount to 5.248%, erasing the prior day's gains as traders concluded the buyback program does not address the underlying structural drivers of the bond selloff — a near-record fiscal deficit and national debt nearing $40 trillion.