U.S. sells 10-year notes at record lowest yield

A new landmark was set Wednesday for U.S. Treasury bond supply. The Treasury Department sold $21 billion, 10-year notes at a yield of 1.90%, the lowest level ever at auction. The auctioned yield is the rate the U.S. government pays to borrow cash in capital markets.

The Treasury received bids totaling $69.04 billion and accepted $21.00 billion. Primary dealers were awarded $9.29 billion, while indirect bidders--a category that includes foreign central bankers--were awarded $8.04 billion.

Bidders offered to buy 3.19 times the amount of debt sold, compared to an average of 3.15 times at the last four comparable auctions. Indirect bidders bought 38.3% of the sale, below the average of 46.9% of recent sales. Direct bidders, a group which includes domestic money managers, made up for the shortfall by purchasing another 17.4%, compared to 10% on average.