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On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fired back at Stanley Druckenmiller, his former boss and mentor, over an op-ed published last week criticizing Bessent’s bond-market strategy.
“Stan’s a great investor,” Bessent told CNBC from the G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, before adding that Druckenmiller “changes his mind a lot, and he doesn’t like losing money.”
Bessent said he believed Druckenmiller had lost money on the day he wrote the piece as the market moved against him.
Bessent Takes the Same Tone on Iran
The jab came during a combative interview in which Bessent was already projecting confidence over Washington’s other major confrontation: Iran.
He argued U.S. sanctions and the naval blockade are strangling Tehran’s economy, with the currency collapsing and inflation approaching 100%. He also dismissed the idea that Washington needs Chinese cooperation to finish the job.
“We are the house,” he said. “We do have the information, and over time we win.”
Right now, traders put only about a 14-15% chance of another formal senior-level round of U.S.-Iran talks by Sep. 30, rising to 42% by Dec. 31. The market has roughly $10.6 million in volume.
Druckenmiller Tells His Former Protégé to Stop
The pair worked together at Soros Fund Management, where Druckenmiller famously made billions betting against the British pound in 1992.
Druckenmiller used a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week to attack Treasury’s decision to double buybacks of long-dated bonds to $4 billion per operation, calling the move “price management” and “a mistake.”
Bessent’s answer is that the scoreboard says he is winning.
He argued U.S. Treasuries have been the best-performing major bond market this month, with the 30-year yield down and the 10-year roughly flat. He also noted Treasury has not yet bought a single bond under the expanded program, suggesting the announcement alone may have done the work.
Bessent rejected the idea that he can dictate yields. His job, he said, is to stop traders assuming higher yields are a “one-way trip” and keep the market focused on fundamentals.
The Bond Market Hasn’t Surrendered
The 10-year yield was trading near 4.73% on Monday, close to its highest level since January 2025, as renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities pushed oil prices and global borrowing costs higher.
The selloff hit the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT), which was down about 0.6% on Monday as long-term yields climbed.