Treasury bills at new low

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on six-month Treasury securities fell further in yesterday's auctions, marking the sixth straight week they have been at record lows.

The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 0.150 percent, down from 0.190 percent last week.

The bills have been at levels not seen during the half-century the government has been issuing them on a weekly basis.

The rate for three-month bills dropped to 0.075 percent, down from 0.115 percent last week. That was the lowest level for three-month bills since they stood at 0.050 percent on Dec. 29 of last year.

Rates on threeand six-month bills have been below 1 percent for months, reflecting a campaign by the Federal Reserve to push down short-term borrowing costs in an effort to help the economy emerge from the longest recession since the 1930s.

The Federal Reserve said yesterday the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, fell to 0.39 percent last week from 0.41 percent the previous week.