MW: Treasurys up after 10-yr sale at record-low yield
By Deborah Levine
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Treasury Department sold $21 billion in 10-year notes on Wednesday at a record-low yield of 1.459%, well below the level traders expected. Bidders offered to buy times 3.61 times the amount of debt sold, the highest bid-to-cover ratio since November and well above the average of 3.17 at the last four comparable sales, according to CRT Capital Group. Indirect bidders, a group which includes foreign central banks, bought 40.6% of the sale, compared with 39.4% of recent sales, on average. Direct bidders, a group which includes domestic money managers, purchased another 45.4%, a record high and compared with an average of 17.2% on average. The broader Treasury market gained after the auction, pushing yields down. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes 10_YEAR -3.19% , which move inversely to prices, turned down 2 basis points to 1.49%.
