Rebuked by Bond Market, Bessent Says ‘House’ Does Not Always Win

“I would be concerned if we were having some kind of idiosyncratic rise,” Mr. Bessent said.

The Treasury Department has been buying back longer-dated bonds and intervened in global currency markets to support the Japanese yen in an effort to contain rising U.S. bond yields, which translate to higher borrowing costs for Americans.

Mr. Bessent’s more humble tone was a marked contrast from September when the Treasury secretary insisted that investors who were shying away from U.S. debt were misguided.

“It’s my dream,” Mr. Bessent said at a fireside chat at Southern Methodist University. “I have asymmetric information. I am the house now.”

He added: “You can bet against me if you want.”

Since then, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes reached its highest level since 2002. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, which underpins corporate and consumer interest rates, soared as high as 5.34 percent last Thursday, before easing back to around 5.24 percent. That was still the highest level since 2007.

In the Axios interview, Mr. Bessent said that in suggesting that he was “the house,” he was trying to make the point that he had “superior information” about what policymakers were thinking. But he said that he did not believe that he could bend markets to his will.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/business/bond-market-scott-bessent.html