Amid the sharp decline in US tech stocks, the auction of 20-year US Treasury bonds by the US Treasury Department also did not perform well
The U.S. Department of the Treasury auctioned $13 billion of 20-year Treasury bonds at a bid yield of 4.466%, higher than in June. Overall, the results were below expectations, but the highlight was the strong demand from overseas investors, which offset the weak demand from domestic investors
On Wednesday local time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury auctioned $13 billion of 20-year Treasury bonds. Overall, the results were below expectations, but the highlight was the strong demand from overseas investors, which offset the weak demand from domestic investors.
The winning yield for this 20-year U.S. bond auction was 4.466%, higher than the 4.452% on June 18th. This is consistent with the trend of the long-term 30-year U.S. bond auction having a higher winning yield than in June, but the general trend for shorter-term U.S. bonds this month is that the winning yield in July is lower than in June. The winning yield this time was 0.1 basis points lower than the pre-issued yield of 4.467%, with no tail spread reflecting weak demand.
The bid-to-cover ratio for this 20-year U.S. bond auction was 2.68, lower than the previous 2.74 but higher than the six-month average of 2.63.
As an indicator of U.S. domestic demand, the allocation to direct bidders, including hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, banks, government agencies, and individuals, was only 14.32%, significantly lower than the six-month average of 18.2%.
Unexpectedly strong overseas demand. As an indicator of overseas demand, the allocation to indirect bidders, typically foreign central banks and other institutions participating through primary dealers or brokers, was as high as 77.2%, compared to the six-month average of 69.7%.
As the "buyer of last resort" who takes on all unsold supply, primary dealers had an allocation of only 8.47% in this round, benefiting from the surge in overseas demand but significantly lower than the six-month average of 12.1%.
It is worth noting that the market demand for 20-year Treasury bonds is usually much lower than that for 10-year and 30-year Treasury bonds, traditionally having poor liquidity.
On the same day, tech stocks dragged down the Nasdaq, but long-term U.S. bonds did not see a surge in investor interest and performed averagely