US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 28, 2026. <\/p>\n
Kent Nishimura | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London. <\/p>\n
It feels right to quote the famous 1993 quote from political stategist James Carville: “”I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”<\/p>\n
The “Bessent Bid” proved to be short-lived and it seems the bond market will need more convincing.<\/p>\n
Read on!<\/p>\n
What you need to know today<\/p>\n U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told CNBC in an exclusive interview<\/a> on Thursday that the Treasury could expand its bond buyback operation<\/a> beyond the initial $4 billion. Speaking to CNBC’s Sara Eisen<\/a>, he said current yields don’t reflect market fundamentals, adding that liquidity \u2014 particularly in the 30-year bond \u2014 is weak.<\/p>\n His remarks prompted a brief easing in yields, but the “Bessent Bid” was short-lived. The bond market resumed its march higher towards multi-decade peaks for the long-dated 30-year bond<\/a>. Analysts were swift to point out the flaws, with Evercore ISI saying the move will have “little enduring impact and could backfire,” Jefferies called it a “hastily made decision,” while JPMorgan said in a client note that the “more lasting impact is the potential for higher risk premia.”<\/p>\n Speaking on Squawk Box Asia<\/a> on Friday, JPMorgan’s James Sullivan described the action as “a little bit like paying your mortgage with your credit card<\/a>. It can work for a while, but eventually the mismatch starts to become more obvious.”<\/p>\n There’s skepticism around the impact of Bessent’s “big toolkit.” Here’s what else he can try<\/a>. <\/p>\n “We can grow out of that”<\/p>\n Bessent also said that there’s a “very good chance” the U.S. has seen its budget deficit peak<\/a> under President Donald Trump<\/a>. Data showed it topped $432 billion in July. He also hit back at critics of America’s ballooning debt pile, which hit $40 trillion<\/a> for the first time on Tuesday, saying there is “nothing magic” about that number, adding: “We can grow our way out of that.”<\/p>\n You can watch the full exclusive interview here<\/a>. <\/p>\n Market wrap<\/p>\n Wall Street pulled back during Thursday’s session. The\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0dropped 0.9% and 1%, respectively. That retreat left the S&P 500 down 1.9% for the week, and the Nasdaq off by 2.5% \u2014 putting them on pace to snap a three-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 1.8% week to date, on track for back-to-back weekly losses. Futures<\/a> are pointing to a muted open on Friday. <\/p>\n Across Asia-Pacific<\/a>, it’s been a mixed session during the final trading day of the week, while muted gains for European stocks look set to leave the major equity markets in the red for the week. <\/p>\n \u2014 Leonie Kidd<\/p>\n And Finally…<\/p>\n Chinese humanoid robots\u2019 biggest obstacle: humans are still (mostly) better<\/a><\/p>\n BEIJING \u2014 The big challenge for humanoid robots is still getting the technology to work well, according to industry leaders speaking at the World Robot Conference in Beijing this week.<\/p>\n Robots are not yet as efficient as humans, and take time to learn new skills, creating a bottleneck for the industry, Unitree’s founder Wang Xingxing said, addressing the conference one day after his company’s 460% IPO-day surge. His remarks underscored the\u00a0challenges for humanoid robots<\/a>\u00a0entering the human workforce. <\/p>\n \u2014 Evelyn Cheng<\/p>\n