Solid 7Y Auction Prices “On The Screws” With Solid Foreign Demand

Today’s lone coupon auction, the sale of $16BN in 20Y notes, took place at 1pm, just an hour ahead of the FOMC Minutes release, and the auction was generally very strong, with maybe a one glitch. 

The sale stopped at a high yield of 5.122%, up from 4.883% in April, and the second highest in the history of the 20Y auction with just the 5.257% in October ’23 printing higher. The yield stopped on the screws with the When Issued 5.122%, and followed two stopping through auctions, and 11 of the past 12). 

The bid to cover was 2.55, down from 2.68 in April and arguably the only weak spot in today’s auction, as it was the lowest since February. 

The internals were solid, with Indirects awarded 67.67%, up from 67.39% and the 63.5% recent average. And with Directs taking 22.9%, unchanged from the previous month, Dealers were left with 9.4%, down from 9.7% and one of the lowest Dealer awards on record.

Overall, this was a solid 7Y auction and one which had no problem finding buyers despite, or perhaps because of the recent surge in yields which today has reversed modestly thanks to lower oil prices.