The scale of US Treasury repurchase operations was lower than expected, and Bessent downplayed market concerns.

Ahead of Friday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) release, the bond market moved first: the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to 4.943%, and the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike next week climbed to 71%. Surging oil prices and inflation pressures have sparked market concerns that the Fed may re-tighten monetary policy. US stock investors thus need to simultaneously cope with bond market pressure, persistent inflation, war-driven higher oil prices, and uncertainty over the Fed’s interest rate path. According to HTX market data, the crypto market continues its correction: Bitcoin fell below $77,000, trading at $76,700; Ethereum is at $2,440; BNB at $710.5; SOL at $99.03; ZEC at $1,083, down 13.6% in 24 hours. The total crypto market cap dropped 0.9% in 24 hours to $2.727 trillion. Leading altcoin movers include: Niu Lai (up ~39% in 24h, at $0.1074); SAGA (up ~27%, at $0.01793); RAY (up ~16%, at $1.451); IOST (down ~46%, at $0.000991); RVN (down ~23%, at $0.0023); KAT (down ~20%, at $0.00485). Per BIT (bit.com) market data, US stocks closed Thursday with the Dow Jones down 0.6%, S&P 500 down 0.58%, and Nasdaq down 0.65%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) fell 2.2%, Intel (INTC.O) dropped 5.5%, SK Hynix (SKHY.O) slid 5.2%, while Apple (AAPL.O) rose 3.5%. Spot gold came under pressure, falling nearly 2%, and silver dropped over 5%. Oil prices surged more than 6% on Thursday, with both WTI and Brent crude futures rising above $100 per barrel.

Driven by escalating Middle East tensions that have pushed oil prices higher, U.S. Treasuries suffered a sharp sell-off overnight, with Australian government bonds declining in tandem. The yield on Australia’s 3-year government bonds surged 18 basis points at one point to 5.03%, while the yield on its 10-year government bonds jumped 13 basis points to 5.38% — both hitting their highest levels since May 2011.

According to a report by CBS News, U.S. President Donald Trump previously proposed that if the Republican Party retains control of both the House of Representatives and Senate after the midterm elections, he would distribute a $5,000 "Trump Dividend" to every U.S. citizen. The day after unveiling the plan, when reporters asked whether the funds would require congressional approval, Trump said: "Well, we don’t think so. If it were necessary, Congress would definitely act, but we don’t see a need. The country is currently on a strong growth path, and we have collected trillions of dollars in revenue through tariffs and other channels. Today, total investment in manufacturing plant construction and other projects in the U.S. exceeds $20 trillion, a scale far larger than any prior period. We view this as a positive development. However, we have one prerequisite: the funds must be spent domestically in the U.S. — we do not want this money to flow to other countries. We believe this is a very good measure, widely popular, and will inject strong momentum into the economy."

According to people familiar with the matter, Microsoft (MSFT.O) plans to significantly expand its data center scale, with global data center capacity exceeding 38 gigawatts by 2032—more than tripling from the current approximately 12 gigawatts. The initiative aims to ease computing power shortages driven by the rapid growth of AI and cloud services in recent years. Microsoft had previously turned down some AI and cloud service business due to insufficient capacity, insiders added. The roadmap includes data centers built and leased by Microsoft itself, but excludes computing resources rented from "novel cloud service providers" like CoreWeave. The relevant plans may still be adjusted based on customer demand and technological changes. Microsoft’s latest fiscal year capital expenditure reached $145 billion, and analysts expect this spending to continue growing in the coming years. Microsoft had paused some data center construction before, leading to limited computing power supply and prompting some customers to switch to competitors. Documents show Microsoft once restricted new cloud service subscriptions in key regions across the U.S. and Europe. Microsoft stated it is accelerating data center construction.

The yield on the 2-year U.S. Treasury rose 15 basis points to 4.58%, its highest level since 2024.

In U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s first expanded-scale Treasury repurchase operation, the amount of long-dated Treasuries purchased fell short of investor expectations, exacerbating a selloff and pushing U.S. long-term bond yields to multi-year highs. On Thursday, the Treasury bought $5.187 billion in 10- to 20-year Treasuries, below the previously announced maximum repurchase size of $6 billion. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to its highest level since 2023 following the operation. Investors submitted a total of $10.5 billion in bond sell offers to the Treasury in this round. While the Treasury is not obligated to purchase the full maximum amount, this marks only the third time it has opted not to buy the full cap in 53 long-dated Treasury repurchase operations since the program was relaunched in 2024. Molly Brooks, a strategist at TD Securities, noted: “This signals the Treasury is being more selective than usual. If the Treasury wants to meet market expectations and complete the full repurchase amount to lower long-end rates, it may need to accept less attractive bids in future operations. At the very least, the precedent of the Treasury buying 100% of the maximum cap in the past has been broken, which could help realign market expectations.”