Wednesday, October 8, 2008

US Government/Treasury to Sell More Debt to Address Shortages

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury said it will sell more debt to meet demand for government securities and alleviate ``protracted shortages,'' said Karthik Ramanathan, the department's head of debt management.

The market disruptions are primarily affecting two-year notes through 30-year bonds, Ramanathan said in a statement released in Washington. The Treasury said it would sell $40 billion in reopenings of 10-year notes today and tomorrow, in four separate auctions of $10 billion each.

The four securities have maturity dates of Feb. 15, 2015; May 15, 2015; Aug. 15, 2015; and Feb. 15, 2018.

``To address upcoming borrowing needs and further enhance liquidity in the Treasury market, Treasury will reopen multiple securities which have created severe dislocations in the market, causing acute, protracted shortages,'' he said.

Treasury markets have been struggling with elevated numbers of transactions that don't settle properly, called failed trades or fails, in part because U.S. government securities have been in such high demand.

Ramanathan said the Treasury will monitor fails and encourage market participants to find ways to solve the problem.

``Private-sector participants should take additional steps from a monitoring and supervisory perspective to ensure that settlement fails do not reach levels that impact financing markets,'' he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXwwEfiJE.CU&refer=home

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