Rates drop at weekly US Treasury bill auction

WASHINGTON (AP) - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to their lowest levels since November.

The Treasury Department auctioned $28 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.215 percent, down from 0.260 percent last week. Another $26 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.500 percent, down from 0.550 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.140 percent on Nov. 23. The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 0.415 percent on Nov. 30.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,994.57, while a six-month bill sold for $9,974.72. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.219 percent for the three-month bills and 0.510 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, edged up to 0.66 percent last week from 0.65 percent the previous week.