Rates unchanged at weekly Treasury auction

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

The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.095 percent, the same as last week. Another $27 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.150 percent, also the same as last week.

The three-month rate for the past two weeks was the highest since the rate stood at 0.115 percent on Feb. 27. The six-month rate for the past two weeks was the highest since the rate stood at 0.170 percent on March 28, 2011.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.60 while a six-month bill sold for $9,992.42. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.096 percent for the three-month bills and 0.152 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, rose to 0.19 percent last week from 0.18 percent the previous week.