Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended his assertion that he is “the house” when it comes to overseeing America’s bond market, but acknowledged that investors who bet against him might win a few hands. The comments were made in an interview with Axios published on Saturday, weeks after Mr. Bessent chided the “Bloomberg terminal bros” misunderstanding the U.S. economy. Since daring bond investors to bet against him in September, bond yields have continued to rise to multiyear highs.
“The house doesn’t win every hand, the house plays the percentages,” Mr. Bessent told Axios. “Everyone in the market knows, you don’t win every hand, you win over time.” He said he still believed the U.S. bond market remained the strongest globally and that rising yields were due to increased global oil prices from the war in Iran, not a shift to German or Japanese bonds.
Mr. Bessent’s humbler tone contrasted with September when, at a fireside chat at Southern Methodist University, he said, “It’s my dream... I have asymmetric information. I am the house now.” Since then, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes reached its highest since 2002, soaring to 5.34 percent last Thursday before easing to around 5.24 percent, the highest since 2007. Mr. Bessent said he cannot control the bond market but can try to get people to slow down and think.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing