Treasury's 20-year bond auction clears at 5.469%, the highest of the last 13 such sales

The US Treasury sold $13 billion of 20-year bonds on Wednesday at a high yield of 5.469%, the highest yield in the past 13 sales of the 20-year sector, according to Treasury auction results.

What happened

The auction was a reopening of the bond that matures on August 15, 2046, with a 5.125% coupon. The high yield was 5.469%, the median bid was 5.415% and the lowest accepted bid was 4.880%. Bidders at the high yield received 60.05% of their bids. The bonds priced at $95.853363 per $100 and settle on October 23.

The previous reopening, on September 15, cleared at 5.420%. The sale on August 19, a new 20-year issue, cleared at 5.204%, and the October 22, 2025 auction cleared at 4.506%, according to the Treasury's auction database.

Demand

Bids totaled 2.73 times the amount offered, up from 2.57 in September and above the 2.63 average for the previous 12 sales (computed). Indirect bidders were awarded $7.50 billion, or 57.7% of the offering, up from 52.1% in September. Direct bidders took $4.075 billion, or 31.3%, and primary dealers took $1.323 billion, or 10.2%, the lowest dealer share of the last three sales (computed).

The day after

The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.96% on October 22, the day after the sale, according to the Treasury's daily yield curve.