The U.S. Treasury is purchasing fewer longer-dated bonds than its expanded buyback program allows, accepting about half of the securities offered and falling below its $6 billion cap in recent operations. The program lets bondholders submit specific securities and proposed sale prices, while Treasury can reject offers it considers too expensive. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described the purchases as a technical measure to support liquidity (the ability to trade without materially moving prices), and analysts say the narrower acceptance rate may indicate that the program is removing the least-traded bonds from the market. The targeted securities are often low-coupon bonds issued during the COVID-era period of very low interest rates, creating a possible debt-management benefit because they trade well below face value, although Treasury must finance the repurchases, potentially with higher-cost short-term bills. Confusion intensified after Treasury announced an August 19 expansion to at least double buyback sizes for 10- to 30-year debt outside the usual quarterly refunding schedule. Longer-term yields have continued to rise, but analysts differ on whether that reflects a failed program or expectations for Federal Reserve rates to remain higher for longer. ING's Padhraic Garvey said the narrowing swap spread (the difference between Treasury yields and private lending benchmark SOFR rates) suggests the operation is meeting Bessent's aims. Treasury plans to buy up to another $6 billion of 10- to 20-year debt on Thursday, while the next quarterly refunding is scheduled for the first week of November.