Rates on US Treasury Bills Slip from 8-Year High

G20-GERMANY/USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell slightly in Monday's auction.

The Treasury Department auctioned $39 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.820 percent, down from 0.825 percent last week. Another $33 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.945 percent, down from 0.950 percent last week. The rates last week were the highest in more than eight years.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,979.27, while a six-month bill sold for $9,952.23. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.833 percent for the three-month bills and 0.963 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, fell to 1.03 percent Thursday from 1.07 percent at the beginning of the week on April 10.