Rates On 6-month Treasury Bills Hit New Record Low

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on six-month Treasury bills hit a record low for the fourth consecutive week.

The Treasury Department on Monday auctioned $29 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 0.190 percent, down from 0.210 percent last week. The government started issuing six-month bills on a weekly basis in December 1958.

Another $29 billion in three-month bills were auctioned at a discount rate of 0.100 percent, down from 0.135 percent last week. It was the lowest level since those bills sold for 0.050 percent on Dec. 29.

Rates on three- and six-month bills have been selling below 1 percent for months, reflecting a campaign by the Federal Reserve to push down short-term borrowing costs in an effort to help support a recovery from the country's worst recession since the 1930s.

Fed officials meet again this week and it is widely expected they will keep the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other on overnight loans, at an all-time low of zero to 0.25 percent. The funds rate has been at that level since December.