Treasury to Sell Record $100 Billion in 4-Week Bills

The Treasury Department plans to auction $100 billion in U.S. debt that expires in four weeks, the largest single issue on record. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department said it plans to auction $100 billion in U.S. debt that expires in four weeks, after selling a record amount of six-week bills on Tuesday.

The large bills signal the administration’s preference to keep funding the federal government with shorter-dated debt while demand remains strong and benchmark interest rates remain high.

On Tuesday morning, the Treasury announced debt sizes for four-week, eight-week, and 17-week Treasury bills. The four-week bill will see its auction amount rise by $5 billion; offering amounts for the eight- and 17-week bills are staying put at $85 billion and $65 billion, respectively.

A $5 billion increase to the four-week bill auction is smaller than the $25 billion increases for both the four- and eight-week bill auctions last month. Yet, the outright size of the debt on offer, now at $100 billion, underscores the deluge of T-bills investors can expect under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

There’s appetite for it. T-bills currently offer yields above 4%. In the second quarter, investors poured $16.7 billion into exchange-traded funds that hold Treasury bills, more than double the amount seen in the same period last year, according to the Dow Jones market data team.

The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee—a guiding body for the Treasury—also pointed to “increased stablecoin issuance” as a new source of demand for bills last month. President Donald Trump’s so-called Genius Act requires stablecoin issuers to back their tokens with assets such as Treasury bills.

Strong demand is one reason Bessent’s Treasury feels no qualms about taking offering sizes on T-bills to record highs. The six-week bill sold on Tuesday was also a record $85 billion in size.

The boost in bill sizes helps the department replenish its cash buffer, which was depleted while it waited for Congress to lift the Treasury’s borrowing limit. On July 30, the Treasury told investors to expect “marginal increases” in bills in the coming days and then additional increases in October.

Bessent is unlikely to touch long-term bond issuance anytime soon. In an interview about a month ago, he said that the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rates look too high to issue more longer-dated debt. Trump late last month said, “I’ve instructed my people not to do any debt beyond nine months or so.”

Last week, Citi’s Jason Williams said he sees longer-term issuance increasing in November 2026, instead of May. Jay Barry of J.P. Morgan pushed his projection to May from February.

An auction of 10-year Treasury notes on Wednesday will offer investors a peek into demand for longer-dated debt. Auction of a 3-year note was soft on Tuesday.

Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com