Feds to buy up to $6 billion in Treasury bonds. Here's why.

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio September 9, 2026 / 2:00 PM EDT / MoneyWatch Add CBS News on Google U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the agency will buy up to $6 billion in long-term government bonds as part of an effort to curb rising yields and ease borrowing costs.The Treasury Department vowed last month to "at least" double its bond buybacks to $4 billion to prop up prices (bond yields. Higher Treasury yields raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, and can also weigh on stock prices,"They are repurchasing bonds that have been around for a while and are a smaller part of the market, but the Treasury thinks this will constrain 20- to 30-year yields from rising and put downward pressure on 10-year yields too," Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, told CBS News. Rising U.S. government debt is the main catalyst driving up bond yields, O'Rourke added. The national debt surpassed $40 trillion in August after doubling in less than a decade."If you want to get Treasury yields under control, you would tackle that issue. Instead, we are tinkering on the periphery of the market, and that's not a real solution," he said.The 10-year Treasury rate, which typically affects mortgage rates, rose to 4.85% from 4.80% late Tuesday, hitting its highest point since October 2023. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for the Fed's interest rate decisions, rose to 4.42% from 4.39% late Tuesday.Bond yields are inversely related to prices, meaning that as yields rise, bond prices fall. Rising yields signal that investors are demanding higher returns on Treasurys. Other Wall Street analysts also expressed doubt that the government's bond buybacks would help contain yields and lower borrowing costs."The simplest version here is that market interventions have a long history of not working very well," Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery, told the Associated Press.Wrightson ICAP chief economist Lou Crandall said Wednesday's bond-buyback operation keeps the "guessing game going a little while longer," as the sizes of the remaining six bond-sector operations scheduled through Nov. 4 will be "$4 billion or more.""The market will likely assume that $6 billion will be the minimum probable size for the next 30-year buyback on September 24, but we may not actually know until the details of that operation are announced on the morning of September 23," he said in a statement to CBS News. Edited by Alain Sherter The Associated Press contributed to this report. In: Bonds United States Department of the Treasury National Debt U.S. national debt hits record $40 trillion, more than doubling in less than 10 years 03:53 U.S. national debt hits record $40 trillion, more than doubling in less than 10 years (03:53)