From Buying Yen to Increasing Treasury Buybacks, Bessent Becomes the Most Actively Market-Intervening U.S. Treasury Secretary in Decades

Within the past month, Bessent has led the first U.S. purchase of yen in 30 years, signaled cuts in long-term debt issuance, and announced plans to "at least double" buybacks of 10- to 30-year Treasuries. This string of moves has made it hard for the market to ignore the policy intentions behind them. Analysts say Bessent is the most interventionist Treasury secretary since at least the early 2000s, with a clear goal of trying to stop yields from rising.