Bessent Calms Markets by Leaving US Dollar, Debt Plans Intact

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he favors a strong dollar and has no plans to alter the government’s debt-issuance plans, showing a cautious approach toward financial markets from an administration that’s elsewhere rapidly upending the status quo.

During the election campaign, President Donald Trump expressed concern about the strength of the dollar, given that it makes US products more expensive overseas. And Bessent criticized the debt policies of his predecessor, Janet Yellen, by saying she was financing the deficit with a lot of short-dated debt to keep the pressure off longer-term interest-rates and spur the economy.

But in ...