As US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's plans to intervene in the bond market push bond yields higher, major developments are taking place in HSBC and crypto markets.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the decision to at least double long-term bond buybacks in the 32 trillion dollar bond market in an effort to lower rising borrowing costs. Stating that he has a broad toolkit at his disposal, Bessent signaled that they could intervene in the market again. However, while some Wall Street investors viewed this move as insufficient, JPMorgan strategists Jay Barry and Jason Hunter predicted that this step was unnecessary and could push yields even higher. Indeed, one day after the plan was announced, US bond yields began climbing again.

Société Générale strategist Albert Edwards emphasized that rising bond yields make markets more fragile against negative news and that conditions are ripe for a market "crash". Although Edwards acknowledged that rising yields alone would not cause a crash, he pointed out that the overall risk environment has increased.

This unrest in the bond market and President Donald Trump's crypto bill initiative led investors to turn to alternative assets. Following months of stagnation, Bitcoin and Ethereum recorded their highest daily performance in recent months on Thursday.

On the traditional side of the financial sector, cost cuts come to the fore. HSBC spent 68 million dollars on its largest wave of layoffs targeting senior bankers since the global financial crisis. This development coincided with the largest reduction period in the number of high-salaried employees by Europe's largest lenders since 2020.

This content is for general information purposes and is not investment advice.