Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills mixed

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction, with rates on three-month bills falling and rates on six-month bills ending unchanged.

The Treasury Department auctioned $34 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.515 percent, down from 0.530 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.645 percent, unchanged from last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since three-month bills averaged 0.490 percent two weeks ago on Dec. 5.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,986.98, while a six-month bill sold for $9,967.39. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.523 percent for the three-month bills and 0.656 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, stood at 0.91 percent last Thursday, up from 0.85 percent on Dec. 9.