CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday praised the Treasury Department’s quarterly refunding plan, saying it may have found a way to stabilize the unsettled bond market.
The routine announcement is receiving more attention than usual on Wall Street because of the steep rise in bond yields over the past few months.The routine announcement is receiving more attention than usual on Wall Street because of the steep rise in bond yields over the past few months. Higher bond yields often lead to increased volatility on the stock market.
In particular, Cramer praised John Frost, the department’s Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets, and the author of the report. “He calculated a way for the government to borrow enough money to cover its massive obligations without destroying the U.S. Treasury market any further than it’s already been destroyed,” headtopics.com
Cramer said of Frost. “Frost realized that Treasury would do a lot less damage if they sold shorter term notes — specifically, mostly three and ten year notes — rather than trying to issue twenty or thirty year bonds which have just been crushing us.”to auction more shorter term notes will help lower bond yields without the need to find buyers for long term notes.
“The thirty-year buck stops right here at the door of Josh,” Cramer said. “He took Treasury out of the equation of longer-term interest rates. He spared us from the horrendous impact of our government’s profligate spending on the long end, at least for the moment.” headtopics.com