Bessent mocks his critics as the ten-year yield closes on 5%
The Treasury secretary has a new name for detractors of his bond buyback programme, which has not stopped long yields reaching multi-year highs.
Assembled by Claude from 10 sources at 9 outlets · Saturday, September 12, 2026, Evening edition, 5:16 PM EDT · no human byline
What happened
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a new nickname for the critics of his bond buyback programme: Bloomberg Terminal Bros finance.yahoo.com moneywise.com. He used it as the ten-year Treasury yield reached 4.94% finance.yahoo.com. A global bond selloff sent ten-year yields to the cusp of 5% financialpost.com, and another account had them soaring to almost 5% on inflation fears, with the move triggering a sell-off in Asian and Australian bonds semafor.com.
Sources disagree on how far back the comparison runs. One puts the yield at a 19-year high scmp.com; another describes the CPI data as delivering a new 22-year high in bond yields tradingview.com. Friday's stability in longer-dated Treasuries offered some relief to a secretary described as struggling to contain the broader selloff ahead of the midterm elections theedgemalaysia.com financialpost.com.
Why it matters to investors
The buyback programme is the administration's main working lever on long rates, and Wall Street is split on whether it achieves anything etfdb.com. One analysis argues that liquidity support cannot reverse a broader repricing of US government debt, and notes that larger interest payments widen the underlying problem equiti.com. A $6 billion buyback did not lower mortgage rates finance.yahoo.com.
The criticism Bessent was answering is specific. Ryan Cummings, a chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policymaking, characterised the approach as a yield curve control strategy in a post on X moneywise.com. That is a loaded description, because yield curve control is a central bank instrument rather than a Treasury one, and the central bank is expected to tighten in the same week theedgemalaysia.com.
What to watch
Whether Friday's stability in the long end survives the Fed meeting theedgemalaysia.com. Rate-hike bets firmed after the CPI print, which is the opposite of the condition under which buybacks would show up as lower yields theedgemalaysia.com financialpost.com.
The spillover is already visible offshore. The yield move triggered selling in Asian and Australian bonds semafor.com, and a strengthening yen has put Washington's buyback programme into the same conversation as Japanese rate policy scmp.com. Risk assets did not break with the move on the day: the same CPI print that lifted yields to a multi-year high also lifted bitcoin tradingview.com. The gap between the two accounts of that high, at 19 years and 22 years, is a reminder that the comparison depends on which part of the curve is being measured scmp.com tradingview.com.
Sources
- semafor.com: Treasury yields soar to almost 5% on inflation fears (2026-09-11)
- scmp.com: US Treasury yield hits 19-year high, Japanese yen strengthens: the numbers moving markets (2026-09-11)
- equiti.com: Why Treasury Yields Keep Rising as US Buybacks Fail to Calm the Bond Market - Equiti (2026-09-12)
- moneywise.com: 'That's too bad': Scott Bessent mocks critics of bond buyback program as 'Bloomberg Terminal bros' (2026-09-12)
- finance.yahoo.com: Why Treasury's $6 billion bond buyback didn't lower mortgage rates - Yahoo Finance (2026-09-12)
- etfdb.com: The Treasury's Bond Buybacks Split Wall Street Views - ETF Database (2026-09-12)
- tradingview.com: Bitcoin spikes toward $80K as US CPI data delivers new 22-year high in bond yields (2026-09-11)
- theedgemalaysia.com: Treasuries end bruising week with Fed hike bets firmed after US CPI - The Edge Malaysia (2026-09-12)
- finance.yahoo.com: Scott Bessent dismisses 'Bloomberg Terminal bros' as 10-year Treasury yield hits 4.94 ... (2026-09-12)
- financialpost.com: Global bond selloff sends 10-year treasury yields to cusp of 5% | Financial Post (2026-09-12)