U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated support for Argentina’s Javier Milei on Thursday, but warned that the aid doesn’t involve outright US investment, pushing bonds between gains and losses in a roller-coaster morning session.
The currency market was more stable, largely because Javier Milei’s government sold dollars for a third straight day to defend the peso.
Bessent wrote on X early Thursday that the US would do “what is necessary” to help Argentina, triggering a surge in the bonds. A little later, he told CNBC that this didn’t mean putting money into the country, a caveat that sent the notes back down again. They are now edging lower.
The U.S. had previously outlined at least three possible options to help the South American nation, including a $20 billion swap line, the repurchase of Argentine debt and direct currency purchases. Bessent’s comments on Thursday seem to have narrowed it down.
“We’re giving them a swap line, we’re not putting money into Argentina,” he said in the CNBC interview.
Argentine dollar bonds due in 2035 are down 0.3 cent on the dollar at 51.45 cents, declining for a sixth day. The peso opened little changed on Thursday at 1,424.5 to the dollar. The limit of a trading band agreed with the International Monetary Fund is currently at 1,481.7.
Bessent also said in his post on X that he spoke Wednesday with Economy Minister Luis Caputo, who he said will be traveling to Washington in coming days to advance discussions on “options for delivering financial support.”
Dollar notes fell from session highs “as investors digested clarifications” that the US aid represents “a swap line rather than a new injection of dollar liquidity,” Walter Stoeppelwerth, chief investment officer at local brokerage Grit Capital Group, wrote in a report on Thursday.
The government has had to deploy millions of dollars and reintroduce some exchange controls to fend off further depreciation on the peso in the past week.
The drop in the currency has been driven in part by concerns over Milei’s political support ahead of key midterm elections later this month following a crushing defeat in a local vote in Buenos Aires province in early September.
The announcement of US support last week sparked major rallies in both the peso and dollar bonds. But the excitement was short lived, as the currency saw renewed pressure from rising dollar demand and as investors grew skeptical around the timing and form of US help.
“The political backdrop is still central to the case,” Stoeppelwerth wrote. “Risks remain that the administration could overreact in defense of the exchange rate band, even dipping into IMF resources, or that Milei’s polarizing leadership style could erode middle-class support and weaken governability.”
