Washington buys back, and the bond rout pauses for breath

A buyback, and yields dive

The US Treasury doubled the size of its debt buyback programme, and the bond market took the offer. Yields fell hard on Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the move under Treasury secretary Bessent as the trigger for the day's decline. The Guardian framed the decision as an attempt to steady the bond market amid inflation fears.

It followed a bruising stretch. On 18 August the Journal was reporting that Wall Street saw no end in sight to the global bond selloff, with bonds "getting hammered" and yields at decade highs; technology stocks slid on the same day. Oil held above $90 through that session, and City A.M.'s live coverage had crude jumping again after Donald Trump's claim over the Strait of Hormuz, with miners fuelling a recovery in the FTSE 100.

The relief spread. US stocks climbed as yields dropped, the Nikkei added 0.6% on Thursday morning tracking Wall Street, and gold rose 2% on a weaker dollar and falling yields. In Asian currency trading the Singapore dollar edged lower as traders weighed what the buyback announcement actually changes.

Away from the plumbing, Trump used the day to complain about Federal Reserve policy, saying the United States should be paying much less on its debt. The South China Morning Post, meanwhile, put Treasuries in the driver's seat for risky artificial intelligence stocks, with investors still working out what elevated yields do to those valuations.

Britain's price problem returns

UK inflation leapt to 2.9%, its highest rate in four months, driven by a jump in energy bills. City A.M. called the figure a blow to Andy Burnham; the Guardian said the rise showed the scale of his cost of living challenge. The BBC's own read was more measured, arguing that inflation is heating up but that another crisis is not the expectation.

Food was the counterweight. City A.M. reported food inflation falling again, with supermarkets described as "actively shielding" shoppers from higher costs.

The fiscal side is less comfortable. This is Money described a "perfect storm" for bonds, borrowing costs surging and a Budget headache building for Healey as investors fret over the UK's debt load. That is the same global backdrop that Wall Street strategists were describing on Tuesday, arriving in a market with a Budget to fund.

The BBC also set out what the rate picture means for mortgages, the transmission line most households actually feel. And the Guardian ran a longer piece on whether Burnham can rewire what it called the "Treasury brain" to boost growth — an institutional question sitting underneath the monthly inflation print. In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank unveiled new banknote designs, with Euronews reading the launch as a defiant message that cash is not finished.

Single names doing unusual things

Moderna shares soared 177% after a successful trial of an experimental skin cancer jab, one of the larger single-day moves in a large-cap name this year and enough to earn a mention in the Journal's summary of the session alongside the buyback story.

In Shanghai, the Chinese robotics group Unitree rose 629% on its stock market debut. This is Money called it superhuman; the BBC simply reported the soaring. Another Chinese robotics firm, Mech-Mind Robotics, is set to open the order book on a US$300m initial public offering, according to sources cited by the South China Morning Post. The same paper reported Hong Kong's so-called IPO queen, Pamela Chung, saying headway is needed on the proposed IPO connect scheme.

Chinese fund managers, a separate SCMP survey found, stuck with AI and chips through August despite July's sell-off.

In London, Pinewood Technologies agreed a £545m takeover by a US private equity firm. Trainline shares plunged after the competition watchdog opened an investigation into pricing, a probe that also takes in Virgin Atlantic. AIA reported first-half profit up 11%, driven by sales growth in Hong Kong and across Asia. A US retail giant booked a $1bn boost from tariff refunds, per the BBC, while Trump paused new tariffs on Canada for three days, saying a deal was close — Euronews described it as a last-minute arrangement to delay 50% duties on Canadian imports. City A.M. marked a quieter anniversary: tracker funds turning 50.