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What Happened in Markets Today

U.S. government bond yields fell after the Treasury Department said it would ramp up bond repurchases. The 30-year bond yield fell 0.09 percentage point to 5.19%, its biggest one-day drop since October. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.65%. Earlier in the day, the Treasury Department said buyback operations for 10-, 20- and 30-year debt would be increased to at least $4 billion per operation from their current maximum of $2 billion. The move comes after the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield hit its highest level in 19 years earlier this week, amid investor anxieties over fiscal deficits, heavy AI borrowing and inflation. The Trump administration's attempts to jawbone the Treasury market will likely not be enough to arrest that long-term trend, Heard editor Aaron Back writes.

U.S. stocks traded higher after the news. The S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq each added about 0.2%. Precious metals prices jumped, pushing gold to its highest settlement value since May.

Minutes from the Fed's July meeting shed light on a deepening divide among rate-setters about how to tackle inflation. According to the minutes, many officials said rate hikes could be needed if inflation doesn't decline.

Moderna and Merck surged after the two companies said their experimental mRNA-based treatment succeeded in a late-stage study of high-risk melanoma patients. Moderna stock nearly tripled in value by the close, helped by a major short squeeze. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF $(XBI)$ jumped nearly 6%.

Markets at a Glance

One Big Story

Scott Bessent got bang for his buck on Wednesday. The decision to double to $4 billion the size of buybacks of the longest-dated bonds led the 30-year Treasury yield to plunge 0.1 percentage points, a bigger move than any day in the past year, and lit up leveraged areas of the stock market.

But Bessent is fiddling around the edges.

What's Coming Up

Weekly jobless claims plus leading indicators are due tomorrow.

Walmart and Alibaba Group report earnings.

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About Us

Markets P.M. catches you up on the day's most important markets moves, delivered after the closing bell. This email was written by David Wainer for Heard on the Street, The Wall Street Journal's home for financial analysis and commentary. To send us your feedback, reply to this email. Got a tip for us? Here's how to submit.