Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, August 14, 2026
Priam Mizra explains that the landscape of US treasury buyers has shifted significantly over the last decade. Previously dominated by foreign central banks and the Fed, current buyers are primarily 'price-sensitive,' including asset managers and households investing through retirement or brokerage accounts. US banks and foreign investors are still purchasing treasuries, but their participation is smaller than before.
“Great point, because I think it has changed in the last ten years. It used to be foreign central banks, it used to be the FED, and now it's what I call price sensitive buyers, and which is why these interest rates have risen what we call term premium, which is how much more you should get paid to extend out the curve that has risen.”
“So who's buying it. It's people like us, It's asset managers, It's what the FED calls households, which is not necessarily the average person on the street. But if you have any money in a retirement account or in a brokerage account and you put it in a fixed income fund, so those are the largest buyers.”
“But I would say US banks are biased, and foreign investors are still buying treasuries given the yield, given the fact that the FED is credible, I think that there's still that demand from the rest of the world. It's just smaller than it was ten years.”