The Treasury sold $125 billion of notes and bonds between 9 and 12 November 2026, exactly what it sold in the same three auctions a year ago. The 30-year bond sold on 12 November at a high yield of 5.441 per cent and carries a 5.375 per cent coupon. The bond sold in November 2025 pays 4.625 per cent.
That is the quarterly refunding, when the Treasury issues new 3-year, 10-year and 30-year securities. On 4 November, Hunter McMaster, the assistant secretary for financial markets, kept the sizes unchanged at $58 billion, $42 billion and $25 billion and said the department "anticipates maintaining nominal coupon and FRN auction sizes for the next several quarters." The quantity of borrowing held still. Its price did not, and the auction results show how much.
What did this week's auctions pay?
More at every maturity. We pulled the published results for both Novembers from TreasuryDirect and set them side by side.
| Auction | Date | Amount | Coupon | High yield | Bid-to-cover | Indirect share | Primary dealer share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year note | 10 Nov 2025 | $58bn | 3.500% | 3.579% | 2.85 | 63.0% | 9.7% |
| 3-year note | 9 Nov 2026 | $58bn | 4.625% | 4.627% | 2.53 | 55.5% | 9.5% |
| 10-year note | 12 Nov 2025 | $42bn | 4.000% | 4.074% | 2.43 | 67.0% | 10.5% |
| 10-year note | 10 Nov 2026 | $42bn | 5.000% | 5.020% | 2.46 | 61.2% | 9.8% |
| 30-year bond | 13 Nov 2025 | $25bn | 4.625% | 4.694% | 2.29 | 71.0% | 14.5% |
| 30-year bond | 12 Nov 2026 | $25bn | 5.375% | 5.441% | 2.36 | 68.1% | 11.4% |
The 3-year note rose most, by 1.05 percentage points, and the 30-year bond least, by 0.75 points. Demand, measured by how many dollars were bid for each dollar sold, held up for the longer securities and slipped for the 3-year. Dealers, who must bid at every auction and absorb whatever others do not take, ended up with less than 12 per cent of each sale. Indirect bidders took a smaller share than a year ago in all three, and direct bidders, which include domestic funds bidding on their own account, took more.
What will the higher coupons cost?
About $1.26 billion a year, by our arithmetic. The annual coupon on each security is its amount times its coupon rate. Last November's three sales carry $4.87 billion a year of interest. This week's carry $6.13 billion, an increase of 26 per cent for the same $125 billion of principal.
| Security | Annual coupons, Nov 2025 sale | Annual coupons, Nov 2026 sale | Extra per year | Extra over the security's life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year, $58bn | $2.03bn | $2.68bn | $0.65bn | $1.96bn |
| 10-year, $42bn | $1.68bn | $2.10bn | $0.42bn | $4.20bn |
| 30-year, $25bn | $1.16bn | $1.34bn | $0.19bn | $5.63bn |
| Total | $4.87bn | $6.13bn | $1.26bn | $11.78bn |
The 30-year bond adds the least each year and the most in total, because the Treasury pays it for three decades. This is one week of issuance. The Treasury's interest bill grows when debt that was borrowed cheaply matures and is refinanced at today's rates, which is what drove interest costs in the first month of fiscal 2027.
There is one consolation for the Treasury. October was worse. The 10-year reopening on 7 October sold at 5.300 per cent and the 30-year reopening on 8 October at 5.618 per cent, the highest 30-year auction yield in the two years of results we pulled. This week's yields were roughly 0.2 to 0.3 points lower.
Did the Treasury follow the forecasts to cut long bonds?
No. Citi's strategists had expected the Treasury to trim the 20- and 30-year auctions by $3 billion each. The refunding statement left the 30-year at $25 billion, and its auction table keeps the 20-year bond at $16 billion in November and $13 billion in December and January. Instead of cutting long issuance, the Treasury said it would buy back up to $70 billion of older securities "for liquidity support" this quarter, plus up to $25 billion of short-dated debt for cash management.
Where does the Federal Reserve fit?
All the way in. Each auction record shows a separate award to the Federal Reserve's portfolio, the System Open Market Account, outside the public amount: $11.8 billion of the 3-year note, $8.5 billion of the 10-year and $5.1 billion of the 30-year, or $25.4 billion in all, rolling over securities the Fed held that mature on 15 November. A year ago, the records show it rolling over $19.5 billion of the $21.8 billion it held and letting the rest run off. The Fed's rollovers do not raise cash from private investors; the Treasury put that figure for this refunding at about $28 billion.
What to watch
The 20-year bond auction on 18 November is the next long-dated test, at $16 billion. The next refunding statement is due on 3 February 2027. The 30-year yield has been near its highest since 2006 since late September. If the Treasury drops its "next several quarters" language in February, it will be the first sign that the auction sizes, not just the coupons, are about to change.
Auction sizes, coupons, high yields, bid-to-cover ratios, bidder awards and Federal Reserve (SOMA) amounts are from TreasuryDirect's published auction results for the November 2025 and November 2026 refunding auctions and the October 2026 reopenings, retrieved on 13 November 2026. The guidance quotes are from the Treasury's quarterly refunding statement of 4 November 2026 by Hunter McMaster, assistant secretary for financial markets. Coupon costs, lifetime totals and bidder shares are this publication's arithmetic. The analysis is our own.
Topics marketsbondsinterest ratesfederal debtFederal Reserve
