Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Tuesday's auction, with rates on three-month bills unchanged while rates on six-month bills rose to the highest level in four weeks.
The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.015 per cent, unchanged from last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.085 per cent, up from 0.080 per cent last week.
The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.095 per cent on April 27.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.62, while a six-month bill sold for $9,995.68. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.015 per cent for the three-month bills and 0.086 per cent for the six-month bills.
The weekly auction of three-month and six-month bills normally occurs on Monday but was held on Tuesday this week because of the Memorial Day holiday.
Separately, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, edged down to 0.23 per cent last week from 0.24 per cent the previous week.
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