Marketplace · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Efforts by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to influence the bond market are seen as ineffective, akin to trying to douse a fire with a water pistol. Actions like buybacks are considered minor compared to the trillions traded daily, potentially drawing more attention to issues and worsening them.
“Do you wish that, uh, Secretary of the Treasury Yellen would, would do what he can to try to, um, One might say control?”
“Well, the bond market is not great at taking direction from finance ministers.”
“It's like trying to put out a raging inferno with a little water pistol.”
“The buybacks, you could, you could double it, you could quintuple it, you could 10x the buybacks. And it wouldn't really matter to Treasury, because over a trillion dollars worth of securities trades every single day.”