WASHINGTON – Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday’s auction, with the rate on three-month bills unchanged and the rate on six-month bills falling to their lowest point in two weeks.
The Treasury Department auctioned $37 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.320 per cent, unchanged from the last week. Another $32 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.425 per cent, down from 0.430 per cent last week.
The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.390 per cent on July 11.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,991.91, while a six-month bill sold for $9,978.51. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.325 per cent for the three-month bills and 0.432 per cent 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, rose to 0.55 per cent last week from 0.52 per cent the previous week.
