Treasury Secretary Bessent doubled liquidity-support buybacks to $4B, sending the 30-year yield down 10bp. Gold cleared $4,500 and bitcoin surged 20% to $79,000. Nvidia earnings and Jackson Hole are next tests.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervened in the long-dated government bond market last week, doubling the size of liquidity-support buybacks. The 30-year yield fell about 10 basis points from a 19-year high near 5.34%, weakening the dollar and lifting gold and bitcoin.
The Treasury said Aug. 17 it would increase buybacks of 10- to 30-year debt from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, starting Sept. 9. The 30-year yield dropped toward 5.19%. Gold cleared $4,500 for the first time in three months, touching $4,600. Bitcoin surged roughly 20% to $79,000, its largest single-week gain since early 2024.
Equities took longer to respond. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% on Friday to 7,674, its second positive session in six days. The Dow jumped 518 points, or 1%, to 53,277. The Nasdaq's 0.4% gain to 26,180 ended a five-session losing streak.
Bessent framed the buyback increase as market-making, not quantitative easing. The extra operations are small relative to the stock of outstanding debt. Traders called it a "Bessent put" after Bessent told CNBC the operations "could be more than $4 billion per issue," the Financial Times reported. The signal mattered more than the size: the Treasury is willing to lean against further long-end yield rises.
The 30-year yield retraced some of its initial drop on Thursday and Friday. Traders said markets remain focused on inflation data and the Strait of Hormuz situation. The Fed rate path has not shifted materially this week, fed funds futures pricing showed.
The week ahead brings a dense cluster of events. July PCE data and NVIDIA earnings are due Wednesday. Nvidia has informed clients that servers with Vera Rubin and Blackwell chips will see price increases above 15% for early-2027 shipments, Bloomberg reported, citing rising memory costs. Marvell reports Thursday. Fed Chair Warsh delivers his first Jackson Hole symposium speech Aug. 27–29. He has not yet offered forward guidance on the rate path.
Gold settled the week near $4,550, above its 200-day moving average for the first time since May. Traders said the next resistance is $4,800–4,900. A rebound in the 30-year yield above 5.30% would test the metal's recent gains, they added.
Bitcoin traded around $78,000 after the sharp rally. Natural gas remained quiet, with daily ATR(14) near its 2024 low. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed commercial net long positions at a new peak, a setup traders said has historically preceded bullish moves in the contract.
AlphaScala's data shows NVIDIA (NVDA) with a score of 68 out of 100 (Moderate) at a current price of $209.70, down 2.34% on the day.
Prepared with AlphaScala editorial tooling from the source reporting linked above. Indexable analysis may include a cited Alpha Score value. Publishing checks screen each story before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.