Rates fall at weekly US Treasury bill auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction, with rates on six-month bills dropping to their lowest level since early November.

The Treasury Department auctioned $34 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.510 percent, down from 0.530 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.590 percent, down from 0.630 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.490 percent on Dec. 5. The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.535 percent on Nov. 7.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,987.11, while a six-month bill sold for $9,970.17. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.518 percent for the three-month bills and 0.600 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, fell to 0.85 percent on Friday, down from 0.89 percent on Jan. 3 of last week.