Transcript Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Treasury Securities Markets
Treasury Securities
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Backed by full faith and credit of U.S.
government
Zero default risk
Largest volume of any security issuer in the
world
Most liquid securities
Benchmark for other bond markets
Fixed Principal Treasuries
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T-bills
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Notes
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Maturity <1 year
Trade on a discount basis (no coupon)
2-10 year maturity
Coupon payment semiannual
Issued at par
Bonds (same as notes > 10 year maturity)
Treasury Inflation Protected Securities
(TIPS)
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First issued in 1997
Issued at 5, 10, and 30 years maturities
Principal is adjusted to reflect inflation
Coupon is a measure of the “real” rate
Return on TIPS = real rate + actual inflation
Return on Treasuries = real rate + expected inflation
Provides a measure of the real rate and inflation
expectations
TIP principal adjustment
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Principal is adjusted semiannually
Inflation is measured using CPI-U
Example –
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Original principal = $100,000 coupon = 3.5%
Inflation = 3% annually (1.5% semi-annually)
Principal 6 mths = 100,000 *1.015 = 101,500
New coupon = .035 * 101,500*.5 = 1776.25
Both principal and coupon are inflation adjusted
TIPS in practice
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Each new issue is given a reference CPI
Index ratio
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Calculated on each settlement date
Current CPI/reference CPI
New principal = original principal * index ratio
Coupon = coupon rate * new principal
Treasury Auctions
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All new issue Treasuries use an auction
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4, 13, and 26 week t-bills
Cash management bills
2, 3, 5, and 10 year Treasury notes
30 year Treasury bonds
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Stopped issuing in 2001
Resumed last year semiannual auctions
5, 10, and 30 year TIPS
Auction process
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Treasury announces auction
Bids are obtained
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Non competitive bids deducted from total
Competitive bids arrayed
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Competitive bids
Non-competitive bids
Lowest yield (high price) to highest yield (low price)
Treasuries issued to best bids
All “winners" receive the clearing bid yield/price
Non-competitive also receive this yield/price
Auction process
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The auction is called a Dutch Auction
Auctions were multi price (English) until the
1990s
Why did the Treasury switch?
Secondary market
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Continuous, over-the-counter, market
Dealer market
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New York
Tokyo
London
Dealer’s provide bid and ask quotes
“Next day” settlement
On-the run issues
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The most recently auctioned security is “onthe run”
All other issues are “off-the-run”
On-the-run issues are most liquid
When issued (wi) market
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On-the-run trades between auction
announcement and auction
Inter dealer brokers
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Dealer to dealer trades go through brokers
Trading is generally electronic
Dealer bids and offers are confidential
Low-cost and efficient method to clear dealer
trades
T-bill price quotes
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T-bills use bank discount method
T-bill Example
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T-bill with a face value of $100,000, price of
$99,100, and 100 days to maturity has a yield
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Yd = 900/100,000 * 360/100 = 3.24%
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This yield is not comparable to other
Treasuries
Quotes on Treasury Coupon Securities
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Quotes are often in 32nds
91-19 = 91 19/32 = 91.59375
91-19+ = 91 + 19/32 + 1/64 = 91.609375
109-066 = 109 + 6/32 + 6/256 = 109.2109375
Accrued interest
Example
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50 days in accrued interest period
183 days in coupon period
Annual interest is $8 per $100 face value
Calculating dates
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Need to know
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Trade date
Settlement date
Previous coupon date
Treasuries use actual/actual day count
convention
Count days to get periods of interest
Settlement date is not included in count
Treasury strips
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Treasury only issues coupon securities
There is a high demand for risk free zerocoupon bonds
Dealers strip coupons and principal and
create zero coupon treasuries
Rely on price arbitrage to make money
This process is managed by the Treasury
Strip example
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A dealer buys $500,00,000 of 5% ten year
Treasuries for stripping
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20 cash flows of $12.5 million every 6 months
One cash flow of $500 million in ten years
Why?
Each cash flow creates a separate strip
The 12.5 million are coupon strips
The $500 million is a principal strip