Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has tried to calm the bond market, but interest rates went up again Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose back to 4.69%.

That is nearly where it stood before Bessent announced a plan to double a bond buyback program to $4 billion per operation.

The buybacks are meant to reduce the supply of long-term bonds and raise their prices.

Bessent said Thursday that the program could be bigger.

He argued that the yields do not show the true economic situation.

He also said the administration would announce a new effort to cut the budget deficit, possibly by Monday.

He claimed the deficit will reach its highest point this year, partly because of tariff refunds.

Investors remain worried about government debt, which passed $40 trillion on Wednesday.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the yearly deficit would go above $2 trillion this year.

Gennadiy Goldberg of TD Securities said the market doubts that Treasury can support these moves.

He noted that reducing the deficit is mostly up to Congress.

Other factors are pushing yields higher.

Big Tech companies are borrowing large amounts of money to build AI data centers.

Oil prices keep rising because of uncertainty about the war with Iran, which adds to inflation worries.

New Fed chair Kevin Warsh has not said if he will raise rates to fight inflation.

He has said he wants markets to set rates based on economic conditions, not on Fed expectations.

Bessent's action seems to work against that goal.