Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Three-Month Treasury Bills Lowest Since Auctions Began in 1929
Bloomberg writes:
Treasuries rose, pushing rates on the three-month bill negative for the first time, as investors gravitate toward the safety of U.S. government debt amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.The Treasury sold $27 billion of three-month bills yesterday at a discount rate of 0.005 percent, the lowest since it starting auctioning the securities in 1929.
Why are treasuries at their lowest-ever rate?
Some of it is certainly because investors fear any other asset class except cash, given the massive economic crisis we face.
But analysts also point out other contributing factors:
For example, bond expert John Jansen says:
Central banks have flooded the system with money and the system is awash in a surfeit of liquidity. That money is searching for a home. [GW's note: in other words, banks are squirreling away their bailout funds in treasuries.]
I also think that very large chunks of money which left the stock market and money funds when Lehman crumbled is in government-only funds and that creates a tremendous demand for bills.
December is always a month with bill demand as the process of sanitizing balance sheets for year-end examination is always a concern. With the trials and tribulations in the financial markets this year, that demand will be orders of magnitude larger than normal.
One last point, which a veteran salesman and former portfolio manager made to me, is that the money raised by financial institutions via the FDIC bonds is exacerbating the situation. The borrowers do not need that money now. They are defeasing maturities which will arise in 2009. So that money will sit in the short market until it is needed next year.
Chris Ahrens, an interest-rate strategist in Greenwich, Connecticut, at UBS Securities LLC, one of the 17 primary dealers that trade directly with the Federal Reserve, says "It’s the year-end factor . . . . Everyone wants to be in bills going into year-end. Buy now while the opportunity is still there.”
Are these guys right, or will the short-term treasury market continue to crash due to the grim economy? Only time will tell.
2 comments:
→ Thank you for contributing to the conversation by commenting. We try to read all of the comments (but don't always have the time).
→ If you write a long comment, please use paragraph breaks. Otherwise, no one will read it. Many people still won't read it, so shorter is usually better (but it's your choice).
→ The following types of comments will be deleted if we happen to see them:
-- Comments that criticize any class of people as a whole, especially when based on an attribute they don't have control over
-- Comments that explicitly call for violence
→ Because we do not read all of the comments, I am not responsible for any unlawful or distasteful comments.
Posts
Without thinking I buy some dofus kamas . I use some kamas and want to find a good group. We often buy cheap kamas together on Monday. As if it is a rule. I think it is the real friendship. buy dofus kamas is already become the essential thing in my life. So I will introduce my friends have the dofus gold , we can be consist of a group, it must be very interesting.
ReplyDelete希望大家都會非常非常幸福~
ReplyDelete「朵朵小語‧優美的眷戀在這個世界上，最重要的一件事，就是好好愛自己。好好愛自己，你的眼睛才能看見天空的美麗，耳朵才能聽見山水的清音。好好愛自己，你才能體會所有美好的東西，所有的文字與音符才能像清泉一樣注入你的心靈。好好愛自己，你才有愛人的能力，也才有讓別人愛上你的魅力。而愛自己的第一步，就是切斷讓自己覺得黏膩的過去，以無沾無滯的輕快心情，大步走向前去。愛自己的第二步，則是隨時保持孩子般的好奇，願意接受未知的指引；也隨時可以拋卻不再需要的行囊，一路雲淡風輕。親愛的，你是天地之間獨一無二的旅人，在陽光與月光的交替之中瀟灑獨行.........................................................................................................................................................................................