WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term U.S. Treasury bills were flat to higher in Monday's auction. Rates on three-month bills were unchanged while six-month bills reached their highest level in a decade.
The Treasury Department auctioned $48 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.900 percent, unchanged from last week. Another $42 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 2.085 percent, up from 2.075 percent last week.
The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 2.135 percent on June 30, 2008, before the onset of the financial crisis.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,951.97 while a six-month bill sold for $9,894.59. That would equal an annualized rate of 1.936 percent for the three-month bills and 2.136 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, stood at 2.33 percent on Friday, down from the beginning of last week on June 18, when the yield was 2.35 percent.
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