The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it plans to buy $6 billion of government debt this week as part of an effort to reduce long-term borrowing costs and maintain liquidity in the bond market. The buyback operation, which triples the normal level of $2 billion per week, will continue at a higher level moving forward, Treasury said, with at least $4 billion in debt purchased each week for the next few months, and perhaps longer.
This week's buyback, which is scheduled for Thursday, will focus on 10- and 20-year Treasury bonds. Yields have been rising on those bonds, along with other durations, as investors confront the reality of persistent inflation, massive investment in artificial intelligence and rising government debt levels around the world.
Treasury Secretary Bessent said Tuesday that the buyback operation is intended to reduce the "fever that was building" in the bond markets.
The markets did not respond as hoped. Treasury yields rose after the announcement Wednesday, with the yield on long-duration bonds rising as much as 5 basis points in volatile trading, though yields fell back in later trading.
"It doesn't seem like the patient's feeling much better," Adam Josephson of Sakonnet Research wrote in a note, per Investopedia.

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