Rates rise at weekly US Treasury bill auction

[December 27, 2012]  (AP) -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Wednesday's auction, though they remained at historically low levels.

The Treasury Department auctioned $32 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.085 percent, up from 0.04 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.13 percent, up from 0.09 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.09 percent on Dec. 10. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.135 percent, also on Dec. 10.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.85, while a six-month bill sold for $9,993.43. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.086 percent for the three-month bills and 0.132 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, was 0.15 percent last week, the same as the previous week.

[Associated Press]

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