Rates mixed at weekly auction for US Treasury bills with 3-month bills falling slightly

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with rates on three-month bills falling to their lowest level in six weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.020 percent, down from 0.025 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.070 percent, unchanged from last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.010 percent on Oct. 14.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.50, while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.48. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.020 percent for the three-month bills and 0.071 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, was 0.14 percent last week unchanged from the previous week.