Following soft 2 yr and 5 yr auctions, the 7 yr was weak as well. The yield of 1.075% was above the when issued and the bid to cover of 2.64 was below the previous 12 month avg of 2.81 and the lowest since Oct. Also, the amount of direct and indirect bidders totaled the least since Jan. The growing economic slowdown fears weren’t much of a help in the face of ridiculously low rates. When the Fed announced the extension of OT at their June FOMC meeting, they said they were going to focus on selling Treasuries with maturities of 3 yrs or less and buying bonds with maturities of 6 yrs to 30 yrs. Thus, this week’s auction’s straddled a touch on either side and a maturity unaffected. The weak shorter end sale was likely impacted by coming supply from the Fed but today’s 7 yr wasn’t helped by more Fed buying further out. Bottom line, yields across the yield curve are at disaster insurance levels for reasons apparent and also Fed induced. This though can stay that way for a while of course. With respect to the Fed, they are certainly paying rich prices for $600b to almost $900b worth of Treasuries into maturities that will far exceed the time frame when it will be time to reverse their extraordinary policy.
