U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is focusing on economic pressure against Iran, betting sanctions can achieve goals without further military conflict. Simultaneously, Bessent’s attempts to stabilize the bond market via a large Treasury buyback were ineffective, as yields rebounded, impacting stock markets.
Meanwhile, Japan’s inflation surged due to energy costs, complicating its central bank’s policy path. Positive data from Moderna-Merck’s cancer vaccine trial and a rally in Bitcoin offered some cheer to markets.
Bessent told CNBC Thursday stateside that the U.S. likely won't need to restart large-scale combat with Iran, hours after President Trump declared "economic D-day" on Tehran.
Long one of Trump's most trusted economic hands, Bessent then turned to a fight closer to home, touting a Treasury buyback that could top $4 billion and arguing the U.S. deficit has "a very good chance" of having peaked — only for bond yields to shrug him off entirely, wiping out his own intervention and sending the S&P 500 down 0.9%.
Over in Japan, headline prices just hit their highest this year as energy costs bite.
Plenty for investors to chew on as they weigh whether Washington's word still moves markets the way it used to.
