Rates fall at weekly US Treasury auction

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with rates on three-month and six-month bills dipping to their lowest levels since September 2013.

The Treasury Department auctioned $26 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.020 percent, down from 0.025 percent last week. Another $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.045 percent, down from 0.050 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.010 percent on Sept. 30, 2013. The six-month rate was the lowest since they averaged 0.040 percent on the same date.

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 $9,997.72. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.020 percent for the three-month bills and 0.046 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 0.10 last week, down from 0.11 percent the previous week.