News Roundup

On September 12, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told the regional French newspaper Ouest-France that AI-related financing needs are competing with governments for capital, part of why long-term borrowing costs keep rising. No other source reviewed for this article repeats that explanation: the three that mention Lagarde and AI together are all ECB primary sources themselves. This blog has covered the rise in long-term rates three times this year without hea

On September 9 the Treasury runs the first operation under a bond buyback program it doubled in size this August, one that two senior officials say could draw on a $950 billion cash reserve, though they would not say how much, if any. The same week, two independent pieces of research price the thing that is actually running short. It is not demand for Treasurys. It is the capacity to keep them safe. The Twist, and what it buys Two senior Treasury officials, speaking to CNBC,

The Treasury doubled its bond buybacks this week to bring long-term yields down. Instead, the market read the move as a signal of looser policy ahead and priced in more inflation, sending the 30-year Treasury to its highest level since 2007, the same week the Fed's own minutes showed three sitting officials voting to raise rates. What a Treasury Buyback Actually Does When the Treasury Department buys back its own bonds, it is not paying down the national debt. It is reshuffli