Bessent Defends U.S. Debt Buybacks as Larger Operations Near

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected descriptions of turmoil in the Treasury market during a Sunday interview in Asheville, North Carolina, before the G20 finance gathering. He said U.S. bonds had outperformed global peers this year even as the benchmark 10-year yield ended Friday near 4.73%. Treasury plans to at least double longer-dated debt buybacks to $4 billion per operation from September 10 after 30-year borrowing costs reached a 19-year high. Bessent said the purchases are intended to temper disorderly volatility rather than change equilibrium prices, and that energy-driven inflation pressure from the Iran conflict should fade.