Between wildfires incurring an estimated quarter-trillion dollars of damage in California and Bidenomics delivering a final extinction burst of heightened inflation, financial markets have had an inauspicious start to 2025. So, investors soundly rejoiced as they welcomed the calm, coherence, and competence displayed during the Senate confirmation hearing of President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee for treasury secretary, the blockbuster hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.

While both equity and treasury investors have long loved the prospect of the president-elect putting Bessent in charge of financing our $36 trillion national debt, Bessent exceeded expectations at Thursday’s hearing, promulgating the best possible promise of a second Trump term and successfully combining Trump’s heterodox priorities into a cogent and coherent fiscal agenda.