The U.S. Treasury Department will keep sizes of nominal coupon and floating-rate debt auctions steady at a record $84 billion this quarter, while providing some structural details on its sale of 20-year bonds expected in the first half of this year.
Treasury is set to provide timing of 20-year sales and auction sizes in May. It’s also signaled plans to issue a request for information on SOFR-linked debt, as they continue to investigate adding the security to their arsenal to fund the federal deficit.
The government will sell $38 billion in three-year notes on Feb. 11, $27 billion of 10-year notes on Feb. 12, and $19 billion of 30-year bonds on Feb. 13. The $84 billion in planned sales match the amount sold in each of the last four quarters and will raise new cash of about $13.5 billion.
Treasury notes and bonds maintained their declines Wednesday following the refunding announcement. There was little change to the yield curve, with the 5-year to 30-year gap remaining slightly narrower on the day.
“In light of seasonal borrowing needs, total bill supply is anticipated to increase modestly over the next several weeks” from the current $90 billion, Treasury debt managers said in the statement released early Wednesday in Washington. The increase will peak in mid- to late-March and drop in April, the agency said.
Cash-management bills “may be a component of our financing strategy over this period,” it said.
Treasury is building a tool-kit of funding options as it seeks to finance a deficit that is forecast this fiscal year to top $1 trillion and remain around that level for at least until 2030.
The 20-year bonds will follow a similar structure as the 10- and 30-year Treasuries sales, with one new issue followed by two reopenings in subsequent months. Twenty-year bonds will, however, be sold in the week following 10- and 30-year auctions, as Treasury Inflation Protected Securities are. The bonds will have a maturity, coupon and dates that align with the 15th of the mid-quarter refunding months -- which are February, May, August and November of each year.
The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee recommended the department launch the 20-year in May.
Treasury’s advisory committee, as well as primary dealers, recommend $10 billion to $13 billion for the new issue of the 20-year bonds, and $8 billion to $11 billion for each new issue.