U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, May 28, 2026. Kent Nishimura | AFP | Getty Images Hello, I’m Leonie Kidd from London. It seems right to quote political statesman James Carville’s famous 1993 quote: “I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as a president or a pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I’d like to go back to the bond market. You can intimidate everyone.” The “Bessent bid” turned out to be short-lived and it looks like the bond market will need more convincing. Read on! What you need to know today US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Thursday that the Treasury could expand its bond buyback operation beyond the initial $4 billion. Speaking to CNBC’s Sara Eisen, he said current yields do not reflect market fundamentals, adding that liquidity, especially the 30-year bond, is weak. His comments caused a brief relaxation in yields, but the “Bessent offer” was short-lived. The bond market resumed its march towards multi-decade peaks for the long-term 30-year bond. Analysts were quick to point out the flaws, with Evercore ISI saying the move will have “little lasting impact and could be counterproductive,” while Jefferies called it a “hastily made decision.” JPMorgan said in a client note that “the most lasting impact is the potential for higher risk premiums.” Speaking on Squawk Box Asia on Friday, JPMorgan’s James Sullivan described the action as “a bit like paying your mortgage with your credit card”. It may work for a while, but over time the mismatch starts to become more obvious.” There is skepticism around the impact of Bessent’s “vast set of tools.” Here’s what it can prove. “We can overcome that.” Bessent also said there is a “very good chance” that the United States saw its budget deficit peak during President Donald Trump’s administration. Data showed it surpassed $432 billion in July. $40 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, saying there’s “nothing magical” about that number, adding, “We can get out of that.” You can watch the full exclusive interview here. Wall Street fell during Thursday’s session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9% and 1%, respectively, putting them on track to break a three-week winning streak. Futures point to a moderate opening on Friday. Across Asia-Pacific, it has been a mixed session during the last trading day of the week, while moderate gains in European stocks appear to leave major stock markets in the red for the week. Humanoid robots’ biggest hurdle: Humans are still (mostly) better BEIJING – The big challenge for humanoid robots remains getting the technology right, according to industry leaders speaking at the Global Robotics Conference. Robots in Beijing this week Robots are still not as efficient as humans and take time to learn new skills, creating a bottleneck for the industry, Unitree founder Wang business.
