Rates on US Treasury bills at highest levels since 2008

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to their highest levels in nearly a decade.

The Treasury Department auctioned $48 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.835 percent, up from 1.830 percent last week. Another $42 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.990 percent, up from 1.985 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 1.850 percent on Aug. 18, 2008. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 2.020 percent on Aug. 11, 2008.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,953.62 while a six-month bill sold for $9,899.39. That would equal an annualized rate of 1.869 percent for the three-month bills and 2.038 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 2.24 percent on Friday, down slightly from 2.25 percent at the beginning of last week on April 23.