CNBC Daily Open: Watching Iran's economy; a losing game for bonds

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaking to CNBC on May 14th, 2026 from Beijing, China.CNBCHello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is fighting financial battles on two fronts. Bessent told CNBC Thursday stateside that the U.S. likely won't need to restart large-scale combat with Iran, hours after President Trump declared "economic D-day" on Tehran.Long one of Trump's most trusted economic hands, Bessent then turned to a fight closer to home, touting a Treasury buyback that could top $4 billion and arguing the U.S. deficit has "a very good chance" of having peaked — only for bond yields to shrug him off entirely, wiping out his own intervention and sending the S&P 500 down 0.9%.Over in Japan, headline prices just hit their highest this year as energy costs bite. Plenty for investors to chew on as they weigh whether Washington's word still moves markets the way it used to.Squeezing IranBessent's bet is that "maximum economic pressure" can finish what six months of war hasn't — a one-two punch of sanctions and the existing U.S. naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman, rather than fre...