Treasury bills auction: couldn't find it today

[AQ]

According to the following schedule, there should be 13- and 26-weeks treasury bills available for participation today; but I couldn't find new treasury issues today on Fidelity. What gives?

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/ ... hedule.pdf

[BrokerageZelda]

When did you check? The auctions today were at 11:30am, with noncompetitive bids closing at 11:00. FIdelity closes orders sometime earlier, like 9:30am; the rule of thumb seems to be to get your orders in by the night before if you can.

[dcabler]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

[AQ]

When did you check? The auctions today were at 11:30am, with noncompetitive bids closing at 11:00. FIdelity closes orders sometime earlier, like 9:30am; the rule of thumb seems to be to get your orders in by the night before if you can.

Thanks! I should have made the order last night.

[LK2012]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

Yes, this. You have to get your order in before 9:30 AM on Mondays for these. I missed it recently too. But I didn't make that mistake for today's auctions!

The links above reminded me, though - how do you buy the 4-month CMB's? They don't show up in the Treasury Auction New Issues choices on Fidelity or Schwab, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

[dcabler]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

Yes, this. You have to get your order in before 9:30 AM on Mondays for these. I missed it recently too. But I didn't make that mistake for today's auctions!

The links above reminded me, though - how do you buy the 4-month CMB's? They don't show up in the Treasury Auction New Issues choices on Fidelity or Schwab, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

This link: look in the "CMB" column.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/instit.htm

Cheers.

[RetiredAL]

When did you check? The auctions today were at 11:30am, with noncompetitive bids closing at 11:00. FIdelity closes orders sometime earlier, like 9:30am; the rule of thumb seems to be to get your orders in by the night before if you can.

Thanks! I should have made the order last night.

Next upcoming.......

..................Announcement Date.....Auction Date...........Settlement date.......
13-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
26-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
52-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022

[808]

Next upcoming.......

..................Announcement Date.....Auction Date...........Settlement date.......
13-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
26-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
52-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022

Actually, for 13- and 26-week:
13-Week BILL Thursday, May 05, 2022 Monday, May 09, 2022 Thursday, May 12, 2022
26-Week BILL Thursday, May 05, 2022 Monday, May 09, 2022 Thursday, May 12, 2022

[BrokerageZelda]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

Yes, this. You have to get your order in before 9:30 AM on Mondays for these. I missed it recently too. But I didn't make that mistake for today's auctions!

The links above reminded me, though - how do you buy the 4-month CMB's? They don't show up in the Treasury Auction New Issues choices on Fidelity or Schwab, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

Here's the table with recent auction announcement and auction dates for recent releases:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... /press.htm

While regular T-Bills have at least a couple of days between the announcement and the auction for you to place your order, CMBs announce the day before, and are not on a pre-set schedule. Your time window is much smaller, and the auction isn't guaranteed to exist, or to offer the duration you were expecting.

[RetiredAL]

Next upcoming.......

..................Announcement Date.....Auction Date...........Settlement date.......
13-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
26-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Monday, May 16, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022
52-Week BILL Thursday, May 12, 2022 Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Thursday, May 19, 2022

Actually, for 13- and 26-week:
13-Week BILL Thursday, May 05, 2022 Monday, May 09, 2022 Thursday, May 12, 2022
26-Week BILL Thursday, May 05, 2022 Monday, May 09, 2022 Thursday, May 12, 2022

You are right. I had focused in on that later week as it has the 52-week I want to buy. I bought a 26-week at today's auction.

The "tentatively scheduled" auction dates are at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/ ... hedule.pdf

[LK2012]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

Yes, this. You have to get your order in before 9:30 AM on Mondays for these. I missed it recently too. But I didn't make that mistake for today's auctions!

The links above reminded me, though - how do you buy the 4-month CMB's? They don't show up in the Treasury Auction New Issues choices on Fidelity or Schwab, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

Here's the table with recent auction announcement and auction dates for recent releases:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... /press.htm

While regular T-Bills have at least a couple of days between the announcement and the auction for you to place your order, CMBs announce the day before, and are not on a pre-set schedule. Your time window is much smaller, and the auction isn't guaranteed to exist, or to offer the duration you were expecting.

Ah, thank you! I didn't really nail down the timing, and must have been missing the window, which seems smaller for CMBs. Maybe I can catch it right this week, if I check tomorrow afternoon!

[LK2012]

They're right here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... result.htm
and here:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/a ... esults.htm

cheers.

Yes, this. You have to get your order in before 9:30 AM on Mondays for these. I missed it recently too. But I didn't make that mistake for today's auctions!

The links above reminded me, though - how do you buy the 4-month CMB's? They don't show up in the Treasury Auction New Issues choices on Fidelity or Schwab, unless I'm looking in the wrong place?

This link: look in the "CMB" column.
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/instit.htm

Cheers.

Thank you, I'd seen the CMB column but couldn't quite figure out the auction dates, and then I've been missing the narrow window to place an order. I'm hoping to catch the timing right to place an order tomorrow afternoon.

[AQ]

OP here. Today I found an opposite issue: log in to Fidelity, I found there are 3 new treasury issues today, instead of 2 as the auction schedule or Treasury Direct site says. The 13-week bills not on the schedule has a cusip 912796XU8. Why is this? Treasury decided to add an additional new issue without updating its schedule?

[LK2012]

OP here. Today I found an opposite issue: log in to Fidelity, I found there are 3 new treasury issues today, instead of 2 as the auction schedule or Treasury Direct site says. The 13-week bills not on the schedule has a cusip 912796XU8. Why is this? Treasury decided to add an additional new issue without updating its schedule?

OP, that is the Cash Management Bill (CMB) that we were discussing above. It is not a 13-week bill, it is a 119 day (17 week) bill that is not always offered regularly but appears to be in the mix weekly now. You can see it matures in 9/6/22. I've been looking for it, and forgot I was going to check for it this afternoon. So, thanks for finding it for me!

[AQ]

OP here. Today I found an opposite issue: log in to Fidelity, I found there are 3 new treasury issues today, instead of 2 as the auction schedule or Treasury Direct site says. The 13-week bills not on the schedule has a cusip 912796XU8. Why is this? Treasury decided to add an additional new issue without updating its schedule?

OP, that is the Cash Management Bill (CMB) that we were discussing above. It is not a 13-week bill, it is a 119 day (4 month) bill that is not always offered regularly but appears to be in the mix weekly now. You can see it matures in 9/6/22. I've been looking for it, and forgot I was going to check for it this afternoon. So, thanks for finding it for me!

So CMB is just another nominal zero coupon bond? It sounds like you're keen to a CMB, because it offers higher rate, or what?

[LK2012]

It offers a little higher rate than the 13-week and I'm putting together a little ladder of Treasuries with various short-term durations, just building as interest rates go up. I like that duration and could see that this bill was being auctioned weekly but I kept missing it. I didn't know the timing. After BrokerageZelda mentioned that the CMBs only appear the day before the auction, I figured out the auction date must be falling on Wednesdays lately and here we are. It appeared this afternoon. They are not always offered, but seem to be here now so I'm going to act on that. You can also pick up 4-month duration bills through the secondary market, but I've been looking for the new issues.

[BrokerageZelda]

OP here. Today I found an opposite issue: log in to Fidelity, I found there are 3 new treasury issues today, instead of 2 as the auction schedule or Treasury Direct site says. The 13-week bills not on the schedule has a cusip 912796XU8. Why is this? Treasury decided to add an additional new issue without updating its schedule?

OP, that is the Cash Management Bill (CMB) that we were discussing above. It is not a 13-week bill, it is a 119 day (4 month) bill that is not always offered regularly but appears to be in the mix weekly now. You can see it matures in 9/6/22. I've been looking for it, and forgot I was going to check for it this afternoon. So, thanks for finding it for me!

So CMB is just another nominal zero coupon bond? It sounds like you're keen to a CMB, because it offers higher rate, or what?

"Treasury Bill" is the collective term for zero coupon US Treasury bonds issued with maturity of 52 weeks or less.

CMBs are Treasury Bills issued on an ad hoc basis outside the normal auction schedule, for when the Treasury needs additional cash in the short term. The CMBs issued weekly for the past few months are "119-Day" (17-Week) Treasury Bills, which may be appealing for investors who want a higher interest rate than a 13-Week Bill but less interest rate risk than a 26-Week Bill, and don't want to go to the secondary market.

[LK2012]

By the way, the CMB shows up at Fidelity, but I can't find it at Schwab.

[#Cruncher]

The CMBs [Cash Management Bills] issued weekly for the past few months are "119-Day" (17-Week) Treasury Bills, which may be appealing for investors who want a higher interest rate than a 13-Week Bill but less interest rate risk than a 26-Week Bill, and don't want to go to the secondary market.

Even though these are officially issued ad hoc, the Treasury has auctioned them every Wednesday in 2022. The chart below plots the weekly difference per week of the Investment Rate of the 13, 17, and 26 week bills. It shows that there is a much higher increase in the rate per week by extending maturity from 13 to 17 weeks than from 17 to 26 weeks. For example here are the Investment Rates for the three auctions this week:

• 8/03 : 2.793% : 17-week CMB
• 8/01 : 2.541% : 13-week Bill
• 8/01 : 2.932% : 26-week Bill

Extending four weeks to 17 produced 4 X the weekly increase as would have extending another nine weeks to 26.
2.793% - 2.541% ==> 0.252% / 4 ==> 0.063%
2.932% - 2.793% ==> 0.139% / 9 ==> 0.015%



Here is the data upon which the chart above is based. I pulled if from TreasuryDirect's Auction Query. The weekly increases are shown in the two right-hand columns.

Code: Select all

                                                               --- 13 & 26 Week TBills ---    Inv Rate Diff
--------- 119 Day (17 Week) Cash Management Bills ---------                 -- Inv Rate --    -- Per Week --
 Announced     Auction       Issued       Mature   Inv Rate      Auction    13 Wk    26 Wk    17vs13  26vs17

Code: Select all

Tue 1/04/22  Wed 1/05/22  Tue 1/11/22  Tue 5/10/22   0.152%    Mon 1/03/22  0.091%  0.223%    0.015%  0.008%
Tue 1/11/22  Wed 1/12/22  Tue 1/18/22  Tue 5/17/22   0.203%    Mon 1/10/22  0.122%  0.279%    0.020%  0.008%
Tue 1/18/22  Wed 1/19/22  Tue 1/25/22  Tue 5/24/22   0.279%    Tue 1/18/22  0.172%  0.371%    0.027%  0.010%
Tue 1/25/22  Wed 1/26/22  Tue 2/01/22  Tue 5/31/22   0.284%    Mon 1/24/22  0.193%  0.386%    0.023%  0.011%

Tue 2/01/22  Wed 2/02/22  Tue 2/08/22  Tue 6/07/22   0.345%    Mon 1/31/22  0.243%  0.508%    0.026%  0.018%
Tue 2/08/22  Wed 2/09/22  Tue 2/15/22  Tue 6/14/22   0.437%    Mon 2/07/22  0.294%  0.590%    0.036%  0.017%
Tue 2/15/22  Wed 2/16/22  Tue 2/22/22  Tue 6/21/22   0.559%    Mon 2/14/22  0.447%  0.784%    0.028%  0.025%
Tue 2/22/22  Wed 2/23/22  Tue 3/01/22  Tue 6/28/22   0.579%    Tue 2/22/22  0.386%  0.722%    0.048%  0.016%

Tue 3/01/22  Wed 3/02/22  Tue 3/08/22  Tue 7/05/22   0.543%    Mon 2/28/22  0.365%  0.682%    0.045%  0.015%
Tue 3/08/22  Wed 3/09/22  Tue 3/15/22  Tue 7/12/22   0.559%    Mon 3/07/22  0.386%  0.722%    0.043%  0.018%
Tue 3/15/22  Wed 3/16/22  Tue 3/22/22  Tue 7/19/22   0.676%    Mon 3/14/22  0.457%  0.835%    0.055%  0.018%
Tue 3/22/22  Wed 3/23/22  Tue 3/29/22  Tue 7/26/22   0.722%    Mon 3/21/22  0.487%  0.886%    0.059%  0.018%
Tue 3/29/22  Wed 3/30/22  Tue 4/05/22  Tue 8/02/22   0.818%    Mon 3/28/22  0.614%  1.070%    0.051%  0.028%

Tue 4/05/22  Wed 4/06/22  Tue 4/12/22  Tue 8/09/22   0.925%    Mon 4/04/22  0.680%  1.132%    0.061%  0.023%
Tue 4/12/22  Wed 4/13/22  Tue 4/19/22  Tue 8/16/22   0.982%    Mon 4/11/22  0.797%  1.245%    0.046%  0.029%
Tue 4/19/22  Wed 4/20/22  Tue 4/26/22  Tue 8/23/22   1.089%    Mon 4/18/22  0.874%  1.275%    0.054%  0.021%
Tue 4/26/22  Wed 4/27/22  Tue 5/03/22  Tue 8/30/22   1.130%    Mon 4/25/22  0.904%  1.399%    0.057%  0.030%

Tue 5/03/22  Wed 5/04/22  Tue 5/10/22  Tue 9/06/22   1.247%    Mon 5/02/22  0.925%  1.450%    0.081%  0.023%
Tue 5/10/22  Wed 5/11/22  Tue 5/17/22  Tue 9/13/22   1.181%    Mon 5/09/22  0.915%  1.414%    0.067%  0.026%
Tue 5/17/22  Wed 5/18/22  Tue 5/24/22  Tue 9/20/22   1.273%    Mon 5/16/22  1.067%  1.522%    0.052%  0.028%
Tue 5/24/22  Wed 5/25/22  Tue 5/31/22  Tue 9/27/22   1.303%    Mon 5/23/22  1.078%  1.563%    0.056%  0.029%
Tue 5/31/22  Wed 6/01/22  Tue 6/07/22 Tue 10/04/22   1.416%    Tue 5/31/22  1.139%  1.615%    0.069%  0.022%

Tue 6/07/22  Wed 6/08/22  Tue 6/14/22 Tue 10/11/22   1.539%    Mon 6/06/22  1.251%  1.749%    0.072%  0.023%
Tue 6/14/22  Wed 6/15/22  Tue 6/21/22 Tue 10/18/22   2.134%    Mon 6/13/22  1.670%  2.214%    0.116%  0.009%
Tue 6/21/22  Wed 6/22/22  Tue 6/28/22 Tue 10/25/22   2.103%    Tue 6/21/22  1.700%  2.453%    0.101%  0.039%
Tue 6/28/22  Wed 6/29/22  Tue 7/05/22 Tue 11/01/22   2.231%    Mon 6/27/22  1.782%  2.567%    0.112%  0.037%

Tue 7/05/22  Wed 7/06/22  Tue 7/12/22 Tue 11/08/22   2.278%    Tue 7/05/22  1.885%  2.567%    0.098%  0.032%
Tue 7/12/22  Wed 7/13/22  Tue 7/19/22 Tue 11/15/22   2.659%    Mon 7/11/22  2.151%  2.760%    0.127%  0.011%
Tue 7/19/22  Wed 7/20/22  Tue 7/26/22 Tue 11/22/22   2.783%    Mon 7/18/22  2.520%  2.994%    0.066%  0.023%
Tue 7/26/22  Wed 7/27/22  Tue 8/02/22 Tue 11/29/22   2.752%    Mon 7/25/22  2.571%  3.005%    0.045%  0.028%
Tue 8/02/22  Wed 8/03/22  Tue 8/09/22 Tue 12/06/22   2.793%    Mon 8/01/22  2.541%  2.932%    0.063%  0.015%
                                                     ------                 ------  ------    ------  ------
    Average                                          1.225%                 0.991%  1.417%    0.059%  0.021%