US Treasury Bill Rates Fall at Weekly Auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday’s auction, with rates reaching their lowest level in two weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $25 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.030 percent, down from 0.040 percent last week. Another $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.060 percent, down from 0.065 percent last week.

The three-month and six-month rates were the lowest since the bills averaged 0.025 percent and 0.050 percent, respectively, on June 23.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.24 while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.96. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.030 percent for the three-month bills and 0.061 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, eased to 0.10 percent last week from 0.11 percent the previous week.