(RTTNews) - The U.S. Treasury Department auctioned $28 billion of 13-week bills on Monday, with results showing a pick up in demand after an auction last week pointed to waning interest in the securities.

The auction drew a bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand for the securities, of 3.04. The securities went out at a high yield of 0.050%, with 92.36% allotted at the high.

Last week, an auction of $28 billion of 13-week bills drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.41. This compared to a bid-to-cover of 3.14 for an auction of $27 billion of the securities that took place the week before that.

The government also auctioned $28 billion of 26-week bills on Monday.

Most of the auction results last week pointed to waning demand for government-backed debt compared to previous auctions either last week or in October. This was particularly true for a 2-year bond auction that took place last Monday, which drew a paltry 2.08 bid-to-cover ratio.

A bid-to-cover ratio describes the amount of bids that the Treasury receives for every dollar of bonds that the government is trying to sell. The higher the number, the larger the demand for the securities.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Economy, Releases, Stocks, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email