Rates mixed at weekly US Treasury bill auction with 3-month bills highest in 3 weeks

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with rates on three-month bills rising to the highest level in three weeks, while rates on six-month bills were unchanged.

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.015 percent, up from 0.010 percent last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.040 percent, the same as last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.020 percent on Sept. 8.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.62, while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.98. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.015 percent for the three-month bills and 0.041 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 0.10 percent last week from 0.12 percent the previous week.