U.S. Treasury auctions off $70 billion of 5-year notes at a high yield of 3.983% | investingLive

• High-yield 3.983%
• WI level at the time of the auction 3.975%
• Tail +0.8 basis points versus 6-month average of -0.3 basis points.
• Bid to cover 2.31X versus 6-month average of 2.39X
• Directs 29.5% versus 6-month average of 18.9%
• Indirects 58.28% versus 6-month average of 70.1%
• Dealers 12.23% versus 6-month avearage of 11.0%

AUCTION GRADE: D

Below average with the exception of the Direct bid (domestic buyers). The international buyers are not showing up.

Last week, the 20-year note auction did show international buyers near the six-month average. Most of the recent auctions have had international buyers much less than the six-month average (like today’s), while domestic buyers have been taking up some of the slack. That has made most of the auctions more sluggish and, at best, near the average.