Rates on US Treasury bills mixed at weekly auction

[September 18, 2012]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interest rates on short-term U.S. Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction. Rates on three-month bills rose to the highest level since mid-August, while rates on six-month bills were unchanged.

The Treasury Department auctioned $32 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.105 percent, up from 0.100 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.130 percent, unchanged from last week. The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.110 percent on Aug. 13.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.34, while a six-month bill sold for $9,993.42. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.106 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 0.17 percent, unchanged from the previous week.

[Associated Press]

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