Weak demand at auction of 10-year US Treasury debt

US Treasury prices are diving after an auction of ten-year notes drew very weak demand, signaling a lack of appetite for ultra-safe investments. The Treasury Department yesterday auctioned $21 billion of ten-year notes to yield 1.764 per cent. CRT Capital Markets LLC says similar notes at the time fetched a yield of 1.755 per cent. The higher bond yield reflects weaker demand. CRT says there were many less bids for the notes than at recent auctions of 10-year notes.

The price of the note dived after the auction. It declined 56 cents for every $100 invested, pushing the note’s yield up to 1.76 per cent as of 3.20 pm EDT (1920 GMT) from 1.70 per cent late Tuesday. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell $1.16 per $100 invested.