Rates on US Treasury bills mixed with 6-month bills at highest level in 3 months

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with six-month bills rising to their highest level in more than three months.

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.020 percent, unchanged from last week. Another $30 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.055 percent, up from 0.050 percent last week.

The six-month rate was the highest since these bills averaged 0.060 percent on July 14.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.49, while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.22. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.020 percent for the three-month bills and 0.056 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 up to 0.11 percent last week from 0.10 percent the previous week.