Interest rates fall at weekly auction to lowest in 2 weeks

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills slipped in Monday's auction to their lowest levels in two weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $39 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.760 percent, down from 0.780 percent last week. Another $33 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.890 percent, down from 0.910 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.745 percent two weeks ago on March 6. The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.835 percent, also on March 6.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,980.79, while a six-month bill sold for $9,955.01. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.772 percent for the three-month bills and 0.906 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 1.00 percent on Friday after starting last week at 1.06 percent.