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Treasury's $6bn buyback fails to halt 30-year yield at 5.2%

9/10/2026

$6 billion in Treasury buybacks, the sum Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed Wednesday, did not stop the bond market's slide.

Yields on the 30-year Treasury continued to climb after the announcement, reaching around 5.2%, a level not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

The operation escalates a move Bessent first signaled on 19 August, when he said the department would at least double its typical buyback pace.

The logic is direct: pull bonds from the secondary market, reduce supply, push prices up and yields down. The market's answer Wednesday was to sell anyway.