Monday, July 27, 2009

Even More Treasuries -- $211 Billion

Reuters is reporting that even more treasuries are to be sold this week. Todays TIPS auction was oversubscribed significantly:

The Treasury launched a record week of debt auctions Monday by selling $6 billion of 20-year inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, at a high yield of 2.387 percent. But investors remain worried that the global market may have difficulting digesting the $211 billion of debt to be sold this week.

The TIP sale, which was expected to do well, had a record bid-to-cover ratio—which measures how much the auction is oversubscribed—of 2.27.

Monday's auction will be followed by the sale of $42 billion of 2-year notes Tuesday, $39 billion of five-year notes Wednesday and $28 billion of seven-year notes Thursday.

In addition to the note auctions, the Treasury will also sell shorter-term bills, which could bring to over $200 billion the total amount of U.S. debt to be auctioned this week.

"We expect demand to develop for the Treasury auctions, but $211 billion is a lot of paper for a summer holiday week," said Andrew Brenner, senior vice president at MF Global in New York.