Trading Day: Bessent makes his mark 

By Jamie McGeever

ORLANDO, Florida, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Long-dated U.S. bond yields and the dollar tumbled on Wednesday after the U.S. Treasury said it would double the amount of planned bond buybacks in the coming months. As a result of the fall in market-based rates and the dollar, U.S. stocks climbed while gold and bitcoin rose sharply.

In my column today, I analyze whether the massive increase in AI-driven debt issuance from the U.S. hyperscalers is responsible for the recent surge in U.S. bond yields and risk premium. Is the corporate bond market "crowding out" investor demand for Treasuries?

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

1. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent doubles U.S. long-bond buybacks in the face of surging yields

2. Japan has few answers as bond rout puts fiscal plans at risk

3. Trump pauses tariffs on Canadian imports, Carney says key work remains

4. Demand from U.S. data-center boom radiates out through factory supply chains

5. UK inflation picks up after July surge in household energy bills

Today's Key Market Moves

• STOCKS: South Korea -6.5%, China -5%, Japan -3%. Europe and UK little-changed. Wall Street closes higher, the big three indices +0.2%.

• SECTORS/SHARES: Seven sectors on the S&P 500 rise, four fall. Healthcare +3.5%, financials -0.6%. Moderna +177%, Merck +12.5%. Seagate Technology -8%

• FX: Dollar -0.8%, USD/CHF has biggest fall since January, -1.7%. Biggest EM gainer is KRW, +1.5%. Bitcoin +5%.

• BONDS: Long-dated U.S. yields slide 10 bps, the biggest fall since October 2025. Curve flattens. U.S. 20-year auction is soft.

• COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil up to 4-week high, gold +4% to 11-week high through $4,500/oz.

Today's Talking Points:

I'll buy back

The U.S. Treasury's announcement on Wednesday that it will at least double the size of long-dated bond buybacks for a couple of months had an immediate impact — long bond yields fell as much as 10 basis points, the yield curve flattened, and the dollar tumbled. Zoom out, however, and we can see that the numbers involved are small, the operation is temporary, and it doesn't change the average maturity of outstanding debt. It's not QE, and the long-term impact will likely be minimal.

But the optics are interesting. This is the second time in a few weeks (after co-ordinated yen intervention with Japan) that the Treasury has been forced to act — or be seen to be acting — to cool the rise in U.S. bond yields. The operation ends just days before the midterm elections. Also, it could have been announced as part of the quarterly refunding only two weeks ago, but wasn't. Since then yields and the term premium have spiked significantly. The Warsh Fed wants to be less active in markets. Is the Bessent Treasury going in the opposite direction?

Wait a minute

Minutes of the Fed's July 28-29 policy meeting were released on Wednesday. They show that a growing number of officials are increasingly worried about the persistence of elevated price pressures and the inflation outlook. The three weeks since the 9-3 vote to keep rates on hold have been action-packed — energy prices, especially diesel, are popping higher again, but inflation and employment data have been on the soft side; long bond yields have surged to multi-year highs, but Treasury is taking measures.

The minutes suggest the center of gravity on the FOMC is shifting in a more hawkish direction. "Several" members favored raising rates by 25 bps at the meeting, and "many" said borrowing costs will have to rise if inflation doesn't come back to the Fed's 2% target. That was before the July inflation and payrolls data though, which appear to have taken a hike in September off the table. It might still be a close call.

Carried away

One consequence of the dollar's slide following the U.S. Treasury's surprise bond buyback announcement is the uncertainty it suddenly casts around the FX carry trade, especially the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. Short yen positions had already gotten blitzed by the recent U.S.-Japan intervention — the CFTC net short yen position had its biggest one-week pullback on record — and this is likely to encourage more short covering.

The short Swiss franc position isn't quite as extreme, but it's still historically large. The Swiss franc on Wednesday surged nearly 2% against the dollar, its biggest rise since January and among the biggest in recent years. If the U.S., Japan and others are becoming more active in FX and bond markets, what is the obvious carry trade funding currency of choice now?

What could move markets tomorrow?

• Japan trade (July)

• China interest rate decision

• Germany PPI inflation (July)

• U.S. Treasury sells $8 billion of 30-year TIPS at auction

• U.S. Philly Fed index (August)

Want to receive Trading Day in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for my newsletter here. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Nia Williams)