US Treasury bonds continued their decline following the buyback announcement: the market believes the $6 billion maximum scale is insufficient

Odaily News, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that it will purchase a minimum of $4 billion and a maximum of $6 billion in long-term government debt in the first operation of its expanded buyback program, demonstrating Bessent's determination to curb recent rising borrowing costs. U.S. Treasuries extended earlier losses after the announcement, suggesting the scale was smaller than some investors had expected. It remains to be seen how successful the expanded purchase program will be. Following the initial announcement of the program last month, yields fell but subsequently rebounded. The benchmark 10-year yield reached its highest level since 2023 last week.

Guha, an economist who previously worked at the New York Fed, stated: "The challenge is always whether the impact of these interventions can be sustained without more significant fundamental changes." Moreover, the maximum scale of the buyback operations does not necessarily mean the Treasury will purchase that amount of debt. However, in buybacks targeting long-dated nominal debt, the department tends to purchase the full scale, having failed to do so only twice in 52 such operations since the program was relaunched in 2024. (Jin Shi)