Wigglesworth says Bessent’s Treasury buybacks sound like “desperation”

Robin Wigglesworth, editor of the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog, says US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s move to expand Treasury buybacks looks less like routine market maintenance and more like an anxious attempt to force yields lower. He argues the programme is too small relative to daily Treasury trading volumes to materially change borrowing costs, and that signalling can backfire if it undermines confidence in policymakers’ competence.