The Treasury could use its near $1 trillion General Account to help fund its recently announced plans to increase purchases of government bonds, according to two senior Treasury officials.

Using the TGA would provide the Treasury with considerable firepower to influence long-term bond yields. The Treasury surprised markets last week with an announcement that it would be doubling the size of buybacks of off-the-run securities on the long end from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC such operations could be even larger than the new higher minimum.

However, the Treasury made no mention of how it would fund the purchases. Most market participants assumed it would do so by selling short-term bills. The senior Treasury officials did not rule that out. Bessent in the CNBC interview called the operation a “Treasury Twist,” a reference to a government or Federal Reserve operation where long-term Treasurys are bought and paid for with short-term issuance. That also implied that short-term bonds would be sold.

But since the surprise announcement, bonds have retreated from an initial rally, sending yields higher, in part because of skepticism voiced by many market analysts about how effective the operation would be and whether the Treasury’s resources were too limited.

Using the TGA could change that perception. The TGA is essentially the government’s checking account, a rainy day fund of sorts held at the Federal Reserve. It is already funded with existing tax collections. Bessent has built up the TGA to around $950 billion currently, compared with a stated goal under the Biden administration of around $550 billion to $600 billion.

The officials would not say how much, if any, of the TGA would be used or when such an announcement could be made. There was no implication it could be used beyond the purchase of off-the-run securities that were the focus of last week’s announcement.

But they were clear that it is considered to be available.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday said it will more than double the size of its government debt repurchases, sending yields sharply lower at a time of substantial market stress.

With fixed income markets under pressure and yields surging to levels not seen in nearly 20 years, the announcement targets the sensitive longer-duration part of the Treasury market.

Under the accelerated buyback, Treasury, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, will target the 10- to 20- year and 20- to 30-year portion of the market, which has seen a buyers’ strike since late June. The government will “at least double” the maximum size of its buyback operations, from $2 billion to “at least” $4 billion, according to an announcement from the department.

Yields cratered following the announcement while stock market futures rose sharply.

The benchmark 10-year note fell 6 basis points to 4.647% and the 30-year “long” bond tumbled 9 basis point to 5.196%. A basis point equals 0.01%. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The change will start Sept. 9 and stay in effect through Nov. 4.

“This increase in buyback operation sizes reflects Treasury’s desire to provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants, as evidenced by the significant volume of high-quality offers Treasury routinely receives in longer-dated buyback operations,” the department said in a statement.

At its core, the move means that Treasury will be a larger buyer of older, longer-duration debt, providing liquidity to a part of the market that historically has shown strong demand.

In the most recent run-up in yields, market experts have pointed to various factors, including a higher term premium for holding government debt — essentially the extra yield that investors demand — as well as a changing profile of the Treasury buyer base. In addition, they cited increased supply of corporate debt, specifically related to artificial intelligence.

Wednesday’s announcement signals that Treasury is attentive to the liquidity issues at the longer end and is willing to be a more active participant.

“This is NOT a debt paydown, it is just a rearrangement of the maturity schedule of Treasuries,” wrote Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at One Point BFG Wealth Partners.

British oil giant BP on Tuesday posted fourth-quarter profit in line with expectations and suspended share buybacks, seeking to shore up its balance sheet as lower crude prices take their toll.

The London-listed energy firm reported underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $1.54 billion for the final three months of 2025. That matched analyst expectations of $1.54 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

BP’s full-year 2025 net profit came in at $7.49 billion, missing analyst expectations of $7.58 billion. That’s down from nearly $9 billion in 2024.

BP said the board decided to suspend the share buyback and fully allocate excess cash “to accelerate strengthening” of its balance sheet.

“2025 was a year of strong underlying financial results, strong operational performance, and meaningful strategic progress,” Carol Howle, BP interim CEO, said in a statement.

“We have made progress against our four primary targets – growing cash flow and returns, reducing costs, and strengthening the balance sheet – but know there is more work to be done, and we are clear on the urgency to deliver,” she added.

Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill is scheduled to take the reins at BP on April 1, following Murray Auchincloss’ decision to step down late last year.

Some other earnings highlights included:

• BP’s fourth-quarter net debt came in at $22.18 billion, down from around $23 billion in the same period last year.
• Operating cash flow came in at $7.6 billion for the final three months of 2025, up from $7.43 billion a year ago.
• BP set its 2026 capital expenditure budget at $13 billion to $13.5 billion, reflecting the lower end of its guidance range.

The results come at a tough time for Europe’s oil and gas sector.

Oil prices notched their biggest annual loss since the Covid-19 pandemic last year, partly due to oversupply concerns, ratcheting up the pressure on Big Oil’s commitment to shareholder returns.

BP’s industry rivals Equinor and Shell both reported weaker quarterly earnings last week, citing lower crude prices, among other factors.

Equinor announced it would reduce share buybacks to $1.5 billion this year, down from $5 billion last year, while also trimming investments in its renewables and low-emission energy projects.

Shell, for its part, kept its buybacks steady at $3.5 billion, a move that marked the firm’s 17th consecutive quarter of $3 billion or more in buybacks.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he “will not permit” defense companies to issue dividends or stock buybacks until those firms speed up their production of military equipment and address his other complaints about the industry.

Trump, in a lengthy Truth Social post, also took aim at defense contractors’ executive pay packages, calling them “exorbitant and unjustifiable.”

“Defense Companies are not producing our Great Military Equipment rapidly enough and, once produced, not maintaining it properly or quickly,” he wrote.

Until those companies build new production plants, “no Executive should be allowed to make in excess of $5 Million Dollars,” Trump declared.

Shares of General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman each fell about 3% following Trump’s comments.

Trump later singled out Raytheon as “the least responsive to the needs of the Department of War, the slowest in increasing their volume, and the most aggressive spending on their Shareholders rather than the needs and demands of the United States Military.”

He said that the Pentagon will cut its business ties with Raytheon unless it “steps up” on investment in plants and equipment, adding that “under no circumstances” can the company do any more stock buybacks in the meantime.

Shares of RTX, the parent of Raytheon, slid an additional 2% in after-hours trading after closing down 2.5%. A major defense contractor, RTX manufactures advanced air-to-air missiles and many of the components in the F-35 fighter jet.

It was not initially clear what impact or binding force, if any, Trump’s announcement would have on major defense companies’ financial activities. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information.

Trump griped in the post that “massive” shareholder dividends and buybacks were taking place “at the expense and detriment of investing in Plants and Equipment.”

“This situation will no longer be allowed or tolerated!” Trump wrote in the post, which warned the defense industry to “BEWARE.”

“Therefore, I will not permit Dividends or Stock Buybacks for Defense Companies until such time as these problems are rectified — Likewise, for Salaries and Executive Compensation,” he wrote.

Military equipment “must be built now with the Dividends, Stock Buybacks, and Over Compensation of Executives, rather than borrowing from Financial Institutions, or getting the money from your Government,” Trump added.

While the tech industry leads the way in buybacks, defense companies have also spent big repurchasing stock in recent years.

Northrop Grumman, for example, spent $1.17 billion on stock buybacks in the nine months ended Sept. 30 and paid out $964 million in dividends to shareholders over that time period.

Lockheed spent $2.25 billion on stock buybacks in the nine months ended Sept. 28, while paying out $2.33 billion in dividends.

Northrop, Lockheed and RTX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s…