U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the government does not set an equilibrium price for yield levels and that addressing the deficit is one factor affecting the 10-year Treasury yield. He said the Treasury’s recent buybacks of longer-dated U.S. government bonds had succeeded, pointing to strong demand in the two auctions after the intervention. Buybacks have been described as a way to add liquidity and limit rising yields, which increase the government’s debt-servicing costs. Yet yields rose after the Treasury conducted its largest buyback last week. At a congressional hearing, Bessent said the two subsequent auctions were the most successful in 20 years, while acknowledging the difficulty of assessing what would have happened without the measures.