Treasury Auctions from July 2009 to June 2010 (1-Year Anniversary Special)

(Click on the chart for sharper image.)

Observations:

After subdued fall and winter auctions, the treasury auctions spiked in March, due to the increased issuance of short-term bills, in particular, 56-day CMB (Cash Management Bill) to raise money for the use of Federal Reserve (and the money goes to the "Supplemental Financing Account" at the Federal Reserve; the balance as of June 30 is $199,965 million).

In addition to the 56-day CMB, there has been a noticeable increase in short-term bill issuance since January.

• Weekly issuance of 4-week bill went from $10 billion in January to $36 billion in the last week of June;
• Weekly issuance of 13-week bill went from $23 billion in January to $28 billion in June; and
• Weekly issuance of 26-week bill went from $25 billion in January to $28 billion in June.

The dotted line on the chart indicates the total amount of short-term bills each month.

The issuance of notes and bonds declined in June to below $180 billion per month for the first time since July 2009. 12-month average is $193.15 billion per month.

This is despite the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's remarks last October that the Treasury plans to lengthen the average maturity of debt from 49 months to 72 months.

Looking at the actual auction results for the last 12 months, particularly since the beginning of this year, the opposite seems to be true; the Treasury Department is borrowing using short-term debt to fund the government spending, which by nature is long-term.