The Demand for Treasury Securities at Auction

Bahamin, Payam and Cebula, Richard and Foley, Maggie and Houmes, Robert (2011): The Demand for Treasury Securities at Auction. Published in: Academy of Economics and Finance Journal , Vol. 3, No. 1 (20 December 2012): pp. 23-32.

Abstract

This study empirically analyzes the demand for Treasury securities at auctions over the period October 1998 through July 2010 from the perspective of bid composition and the influence of demand at auction on the secondary market. The results show that the demand at auction, measured by bid dispersion, is positively related to the bid-to-cover ratio but is negatively associated with the percentage of accepted competitive bids as well as the percentage of noncompetitive bids. Post-auction returns are positively related to demand at auction. The findings suggest the existence of arbitrage opportunities resulting from the price discrepancy between the auction and the secondary market when the demand for Treasury securities at auction is high.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Treasury securities; primary market bidding; secondary market bidding
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D4 - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design > D44 - Auctions; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G18 - Government Policy and Regulation; H - Public Economics > H6 - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt > H62 - Deficit ; Surplus; H - Public Economics > H6 - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt > H63 - Debt ; Debt Management ; Sovereign Debt

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