The Treasury Department announced plans Wednesday to accelerate the size of its auctions as it looks to handle its heavy debt load and with financing costs rising.
In a development getting close attention on Wall Street, the department detailed its refunding plans for future debt sales. The announcement comes with Treasury yields around their highest levels since 2007, a reflection of financial markets spooked over how much damage higher borrowing costs could exact.
Most immediately, the Treasury will auction $112 billion in debt next week to refund $102.2 billion of notes set to mature Nov. 15, raising more than $9 billion in extra funds.
The sale will come in three parts, starting Tuesday with $48 billion in 3-year notes, with subsequent days featuring respective sales of $40 billion in 10-year notes then $24 billion in 30-year bonds. The total sale matched some estimates around Wall Street in recent days.
From there, the department said it will increase the auction size of various maturities, focusing more on coupon-bearing notes and bonds. The Treasury will maintain its current auction size for bills until late November, when it expects to have its general account replenished enough to implement “modest reductions” through mid- to late-January.
For auctions on coupon securities, the department detailed a step-up in the pace from previous levels, while it said longer-dated debt would increase at a “more moderate” rate.
The Treasury expects to increase the sizes for 2- and 5-year notes by $3 billion a month, the 3-year note by $2 billion a month, and the 7-year note by $1 billion a month. By the end of January, the auction sizes will show respective increases of $9 billion, $9 billion, $6 billion and $3 billion.
Stock market futures came off their lows of the morning following the announcement, while Treasury yields were lower.
On Monday, the department said it would need to borrow $776 billion in the current quarter and $816 billion in the first quarter of calendar…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply