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Floating rate notes?

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:05 pm
by dualstow
Would love to get the response of Craig and others here. Hopefully it'll be Keep It Simple, Stupid and just keep on doing what you're doing. But, just in case....
WASHINGTON—The U.S. plans to issue floating-rate notes within the next year, though first it must resolve how to set the adjustable rates on the securities.

The Treasury Department announced plans last year for debt securities with rates that periodically reset either up or down but previously left the timing of their debut open-ended. The main unresolved question for the Treasury is which index will control the notes' interest rates, a sensitive issue for bond investors, especially after allegations that bankers rigged the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor.

Floating-rate notes would be the first addition to the department's products in more than 15 years, potentially expanding the Treasury's investor base and helping extend the maturity of government debt.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 52738.html

Re: Floating rate notes?

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:28 pm
by melveyr
I guess I don't really understand the point of these. How would they be different from just rolling over very short term T-Bills?

Re: Floating rate notes?

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 1:33 pm
by dualstow
We don't buy TIPS and I assume we should steer clear of these as well.

Re: Floating rate notes?

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 3:39 pm
by smurff
They're also talking about doing a 50 year bond and a 20 year bond.

Re: Floating rate notes?

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:27 pm
by melveyr
smurff wrote: They're also talking about doing a 50 year bond and a 20 year bond.
I remember there were rumours a couple of years ago about a hundred year bond. That would be pretty cool. You could hold a lot less in LTT for the same amount of deflation protection.