The Treasury borrows by selling bills, notes, and bonds at auction on a published schedule. Investors bid, the Treasury accepts bids from the lowest rate upward until it has raised the amount offered, and the results are published as soon as the auction closes.
- Offering amount
- How many dollars of the security the Treasury offered at that auction.
- High discount rate
- For a bill, the highest discount rate accepted at the auction. A bill is sold below its face value, and the discount rate expresses that gap as a yearly rate.
- High yield
- For a note or bond, the highest yield accepted at the auction.
- Average median yield
- A second yield measure that Treasury publishes in the Fiscal Data auction file. This paper prints it as the file gives it.
- Interest rate
- The fixed rate the security pays, shown for a note or bond once it has been set.
- Bid-to-cover
- The ratio Treasury publishes for demand at the auction: bids received compared with the amount sold. A higher ratio means more bids for each dollar offered. This paper shows the published ratio to three decimal places and does not compute it.
- CUSIP
- The nine-character identifier of the security.
