The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.045 percent, down from 0.050 percent last week. Another $25 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.075 percent, down from 0.085 percent last week.
The three-month rate was the lowest since three-month bills averaged 0.040 percent on May 6. The six-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 0.070 percent on Jan. 23, 2012.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,998.86 while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.21. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.046 percent for the three-month bills and 0.076 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, edged down to 0.15 percent last week from 0.16 percent the previous week. |