Treasury debt prices extend gains

US Treasury debt prices extended gains on Wednesday after the government sold $35 billion in new five-year notes amid very strong demand from fund managers and other investors. Indirect bidders bought 50.9 percent of the sale but dealers took only 25.9 percent of the notes, well below their 47 percent average for the last four five-year note auctions. The notes sold at a high yield of 1.715 percent, or about one-and-a-half basis points lower than where they had traded before the auction.
"It was well received, there was a very low dealer takedown ... it looks like there was a lot of fund demand and demand from abroad," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York. The Treasury will sell $29 billion in seven-year notes on Thursday, the final sale this week of $96 billion in new coupon-bearing supply. The degree of demand for this sale is still uncertain, however, as five-year notes have traditionally had more support from buyers including central banks than have seven-year notes.
Short- and intermediate-dated notes have been the worst performers since Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last Wednesday the US central bank could raise interest rates six months after its current bond-buying program ends, suggesting a potential rate hike as early as spring 2015.
Five-year notes were last up 8/32 in price to yield 1.67 percent, down from 1.74 percent earlier on Wednesday. The yields rose as high as 1.77 percent on Tuesday, the highest since January 9, and are up from around 1.54 percent before Yellen's comments a week ago. Seven-year notes gained 11/32 in price to yield 2.25 percent, down from 2.32 percent earlier on Wednesday. They have increased from 2.16 percent before Yellen's comments. The US benchmark 10-year Treasury note was last up 15/32 in price to yield 2.69 percent, down from 2.74 percent late on Tuesday.
Bidding at Wednesday's $13 billion auction of US floating-rate, two-year government debt was also the weakest yet since this security was introduced in January. The gap between US and German 10-year debt yields widened to 1.188 percentage points early on Wednesday from 1.176 percentage points late Tuesday, according to Reuters data. The Fed bought $2.63 billion of notes due from 2021 to 2024 on Wednesday as part of its ongoing purchase program. It will purchase between $3.75 billion and $4.50 billion in notes due in 2018 and 2019 on Thursday.