What can the government do to lower mortgage rates?

Last week Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made a big announcement to try to calm the long end of the bond market — a larger debt buyback plan that will start on Sept. 9, which I see as a more defensive play. This follows the intervention on the Yen using euros, not dollars, which was another attempt. The Treasury can issue a lot of short-term debt, avoid long issuance and attempt yield curve control if needed. However, for now, the bond market isn’t budging and mortgage rates are close to yearly highs. After the Aug. 19 Treasury announcement, we did get a one-day rally in bond yields, but gave it all away the next day. Now it’s the weekend and the tariff deal with Canada fell apart Friday night, leading to the U.S. imposing 50% tariffs on Canadian goods, with Canada set to retaliate. Why hasn’t anything the Trump administration has done to bring rates down worked?Because the elephant in the room is still the Iran conflict; we haven’t gotten a deal yet. If you look at how bond yields trade, when there is escalation or bad news on the Iran conflict, bond yields rise — and they rise with some kick. And the one time recently when bond yields moved lower was when oil tankers were able ...