Rates on Treasury bills mixed; 6-month highest in 9 years

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction, with rates on three-month bills falling to their lowest level since late June while rates on six-month bills rose to their highest level in nearly nine years.

The Treasury Department auctioned $39 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.040 percent, down from 1.070 percent last week. Another $33 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.140 percent, up from 1.130 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since three-month bills averaged 1 percent on June 26. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 1.4 percent on Oct. 27, 2008, at the height 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 $9,973.7 while a six-month bill sold for $9,942.4. That would equal an annualized rate of 1.057 percent for the three-month bills and 1.163 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 1.23 percent last Friday, unchanged from where it started the week on Monday.