Over the past several years, one of the more amusing debates gripping the market's Fed-watchers was whether the Fed's treasury buyback auctions were a form of soft QE, with this website consistently arguing that - contrary to what washed out ex-Bridgewater traders with a newsletter to sell may tell you - Treasury buybacks were just that, to wit:
*TREASURY SAYS IT'S EVALUATING ENHANCEMENTS TO BUYBACK PROGRAM
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 30, 2025
"Not QE"
*TREASURY INCREASES LIQUIDITY BUYBACK TOTAL TO $30B FROM $15B
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 31, 2024
"Not QE 2.0" is growing
TREASURY DEBT BUYBACK TARGETS COUPONS MATURING IN 2031 - 2034
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 24, 2024
Next QE rehearsal
And moments ago, Scott Bessent finally resolved the debate when, with 30Y yields at 20 year highs and threatening to blow out higher, the US Treasury shocked markets, sparked a meltdown in yields and surge in equity futures and gold when it announced at 8:30am that they will be "increasing, by at least double, the size of liquidity support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities (the 10-year to 20-year sector and the 20-year to 30-year sector). The current maximum size
