Treasury Reintroduces 30-Year Bond
In August of 2005, Treasury announced the reintroduction of the 30-year bond. Treasury will hold its first auction of the bond in five years on February 9, 2006. The last 30-year bond auction took place on August 9, 2001.
Bids for the auction may be placed through a broker or financial institution, or directly from Treasury through the TreasuryDirect and Legacy Treasury Direct systems. In TreasuryDirect or Legacy Treasury Direct, account holders can place non-competitive bids for 30-year bonds today.
The 30-year bond will diversify Treasury’s funding options and expand its investor base. The reintroduction of the bond will also stabilize the average maturity of the public debt. Before the reintroduction of the 30-year bond, the 20-year TIPS was the longest dated marketable security issued by Treasury.
The 30-year bond has long been a favorite of fixed income market participants seeking to match assets to future liabilities and it serves as an important benchmark by which other long-dated securities are measured.
