President Donald Trump's Treasury secretary is failing at the one job the president desperately needs him to do: keep Wall Street in the administration's corner, according to a new report.
Politico revealed Wednesday that Secretary Scott Bessent took a hit to his "credibility" with his attempts to manipulate the bond market and may never recover.
Belief in the Treasury secretary's abilities as a steward of U.S. financial markets has collapsed after he "surprised traders" with a new bond-buying plan designed to lower the interest rate the federal government pays on long-term debt.
According to the report, the move "sparked a brief market rally' that sent rates down from near two-decade highs. However, those effects were temporary, and traders "were left uncertain about what Bessent might attempt next."
Treasury markets are "the lifeblood of the global financial system," Politico reported.
Now some of Bessent's longtime allies, including former mentor and Wall Street powerhouse Stanley Druckenmiller, have criticized the maneuver as a mistake that could push borrowing costs higher, "erode guardrails against excessive federal spending," and undermine confidence in U.S. debt assets over time, the report stated.
Mohamed El-Erian, a professor at the Wharton School and chief economic adviser at Allianz, expressed concern that investors have overlooked the federal government's fiscal and trade policies due to private sector growth and strong earnings. But that confidence could falter if Treasury continues intervening in debt markets during periods of relative stability.
"I'm worried," El-Erian, a previous booster of Bessent told Politico. "The intervention in the bond market takes us to a different place if it continues."
The Treasury secretary positioned himself as the nation's leading bond salesman, leaning on his background as a Wall Street trader and economic historian to project authority and stability to markets. If traders lose confidence in his ability to manage the federal government's debt, it would diminish his capacity to stabilize markets during stress and hinder the U.S.'s ability to borrow at favorable rates.
Mark Dowding, the chief investment officer at BlueBay Fixed Income, said the market is not granting "Bessent the credibility that he wants to believe that he has."
The dollar fell following the announcement of Treasury's buyback plan, and the price of gold has risen — a combination that often signals increased risk to U.S. assets. According to Dowding, "that really is speaking to the fact that some damage has been done to U.S. policy credibility."