- A Treasury bond auction saw weak demand on Thursday amid fears soaring US debt will overwhelm Wall Street.
- The US sold $20 billion of 30-year bonds, but dealers had to take up more supply after investors balked.
- The soft auction sent yields on longer-dated Treasurys sharply higher.
A Treasury bond auction Thursday saw weak demand, adding to growing alarms that the explosion in the supply of US debt could overwhelm Wall Street.
The US sold $20 billion of 30-year bonds, but dealers had to take up 18% of the supply, more than the typical share of about 11%, after investors balked.
The auction tail, or the gap between the lowest bid price versus the average, was the narrowest since November 2021, according to the Financial Times, representing another sign of waning demand.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury jumped 12 basis points to 4.856%, and the 10-year yield surged 10 basis points to 4.7%.
Thursday’s results followed other soft Treasury auctions this week, including a $46 billion sale of three-year notes and a $35 billion sale of 10-year bonds.
The auctions come as federal deficits have exploded this year, raising fears about investors’ ability to absorb all the fresh debt the government must issue. Since June, the US has sold more than $1 trillion in T-bills.
It’s also a sign that the earlier bond market sell-off has not yet concluded, as higher yields may be necessary to continue attracting bond buyers, further fueling deficits that make investors less keen to borrow.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s quantitative tightening campaign has removed it as a major market buyer. This is where the Fed doesn’t reinvest proceeds from matured bond assets, reducing its balance sheet.
