Treasury's 5-year TIPS auction clears at a real yield of 2.367%, double a year earlier

The US Treasury sold $26 billion of 5-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities on Thursday at a high real yield of 2.367%, about twice the yield at the same auction a year ago, according to Treasury auction results.

What happened

The new 5-year TIPS carries a 2.25% coupon and matures on October 15, 2031. The high yield was 2.367%, the median bid was 2.300% and the lowest accepted bid was 2.245%. Bidders at the high yield received 68.33% of their bids. Bids totaled 2.41 times the amount offered. The securities settle on October 30.

In the Treasury's auction database, the previous new 5-year TIPS issue, on April 23, 2026, cleared at 1.367% with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.57. The October 23, 2025 sale cleared at 1.182%, with a ratio of 2.51. The increase from a year earlier is 118.5 basis points (computed).

What the yield means

A TIPS yield is a real yield: the investor is paid that rate on top of an adjustment for consumer price inflation. The St. Louis Fed's series of market-implied inflation rates shows the 5-year breakeven rate, which is the difference between the nominal 5-year Treasury yield and the TIPS yield, at 2.45% on October 22, up from 2.40% on October 21 and 2.30% a year earlier, according to FRED. The 10-year breakeven was 2.32% on October 22, and the 10-year real yield was 2.76% on October 21, per FRED.

Consumer prices rose 3.7% in the 12 months through September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Breakeven rates reflect expected average inflation over the next five or ten years, not the current rate.

What to watch

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release October consumer prices on November 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET, according to its schedule.