U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the expanded Treasury buyback program (government repurchases of its debt) was intended to calm a growing sense of frenzy in the bond market and help prices return to equilibrium. He said he could not change the market’s equilibrium price but hoped to reduce excessive speculation. Bessent argued that investors genuinely worried about the creditworthiness of U.S. debt would sell Treasuries and buy German government bonds, a pattern he said is not currently reflected in market behavior. He rejected the idea that the buybacks amount to quantitative easing (central-bank asset purchases), saying the measure more closely resembles the Federal Reserve’s former Operation Twist (a program that altered the maturity mix of its holdings). The Treasury expanded the program after the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007.