Bessent Says Deutsche Bank CEO Called To Dismiss Research Note On US Assets
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at the World Economic Forum earlier today, said Deutsche Bank AG CEO Christian Sewing called him to disavow an analyst report from the bank that warned European investors could sell US assets amid the latest President Donald Trump-EU dispute over Greenland.
"We saw a six standard deviation move in Japanese bonds, which has spilled over to other markets, and I've been in touch with my Japanese economic colleagues, and I'm assured that they will take measures to stabilize that market and just so everyone knows that this notion that Europeans would be selling US assets came from a single analyst at Deutsche Bank. Of course, the fake news media led by the Financial Times amplified it, and the CEO of Deutsche Bank called to say that Deutsche Bank does not stand by that analyst report," Bessent told reporters at Davos.
The research note in question comes from DB's chief forex strategist, George Saravelos, who told clients on Sunday that Europe held approximately $8 trillion of US equities and bonds, making it America's largest creditor and underlining Washington's reliance on foreign capital to finance deficits.
"We spent most of last year arguing that for all its military and economic strength, the US has one key weakness: it relies on others to pay its bills via large external deficits. Europe, on the other hand, is America's largest lender," Saravelos wrote.
Saravelos did not predict a sell-off but warned that rising geopolitical tensions could force some European investors to rebalance away from the dollar, citing past repatriation by the Danish pension fund.
Headline yesterday...
*DANISH PENSION FUND AKADEMIKERPENSION TO EXIT US TREASURIES
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 20, 2026
"In an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the Western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part . . . With [US dollar] exposure still very elevated across Europe, developments over the last few days have the potential to further encourage dollar rebalancing," he said.
We cited Bloomberg macro strategist Simon White, who noted earlier: "Any potential threat by Europe to sell its Treasuries in retaliation for President Donald Trump's aim to annex Greenland is likely to be empty."
Read White's note here.