Rates on US Treasury bills mixed at weekly auction

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills unchanged, while rates on three-month bills rose to their highest level in four weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $27 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.030 percent, up from 0.025 percent last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.055 percent, unchanged from last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.040 percent on June 30.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.24 while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.22. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.030 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, was 0.11 percent last week, unchanged from the previous week.