Rates rise on short-term bills at weekly auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Tuesday's auction, with rates on three-month rates rising to their highest level since late December.

The Treasury Department auctioned $34 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.530 percent, up from 0.510 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.605 percent, up from 0.590 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since three-month bills averaged 0.555 percent on Dec. 27. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.630 percent on Jan. 3.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,986.60, while a six-month bill sold for $9,969.41. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.538 percent for the three-month bills and 0.615 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, stood at 0.82 percent on Monday, the same rate as the week before.