Summary
The Commerce Department announced this morning that the nation's trade deficit during 2004 mushroomed to a record $617.7 billion. Meanwhile, the Treasury completed its February refunding operation by auctioning of $14.0 of new 10-year notes.
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December/2004 Trade Figures
In December, the United States ran a trade deficit (goods and services) of $56.4 billion, down from November's revised deficit of $59.3 billion. For all of 2004, the shortfall came in at a record $617.7 billion, up $121.2 billion or 24.4% from 2003. Additional details will follow in a later missive.
Results of Today's 10-Year Treasury Note Auction
Earlier today, the Treasury auctioned $14 billion of 10-year notes, the third and final leg of its February refunding operation.
Today's issue was sold at a market-clearing yield of 4.049%, and the auction had a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.05. The 10-year note auctioned in the November refunding went off at a market-clearing yield of 4.280%, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.05.
Total competitive and noncompetitive tenders today were $28.737 billion, excluding an allotment of $1.212 billion to the Federal Reserve System. Additional details are contained in the tables below.
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Table 1.
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RESULTS OF THE FEBRUARY 2005
TREASURY REFUNDING OPERATION*
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Bid/
Auct. Amt. Cover Non-
Date (Bils) Maturity Coupon Yield Price Ratio Comp.#
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02/08 $22.0 02/15/08 3.375% 3.470% 99.731+ 2.01 $0.168
02/09 $15.0 02/15/10 3.500% 3.618% 99.464+ 2.53 $0.201
02/10 $14.0 02/15/15 4.000% 4.049% 99.600+ 2.05 $0.186
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*All three issues are dated 2/15/05 and settle on
2/15/05. #Amount of issue (in billions) awarded
based on non-competitive tenders submitted.
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Table 2.
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DETAILS OF COMPETITIVE TENDERS/AWARDS
(Amounts in Thousands of Dollars)
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% of
Tendered Accepted Accepted
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10-Year Note Auction (4.000s of 2/15/15)
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Primary Dealer[1] 24502000 9800000 70.9
Direct Bidder[2] 89000 79000 0.6
Indirect Bidder[3] 3960300 3935300 28.5
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Total 28551300 13814200 100.0
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Five-Year Note Auction (3.500s of 2/15/10)
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Primary Dealer[1] 29521000 8050350 54.4
Direct Bidder[2] 73000 25000 0.2
Indirect Bidder[3] 8102050 6724050 45.4
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Total 37696050 14799400 100.0
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Three-Year Note Auction (3.375s of 2/15/08)
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Primary Dealer[1] 33994000 12144015 55.6
Direct Bidder[2] 109000 78104 0.4
Indirect Bidder[3] 10026100 9610045 44.0
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[1]Primary dealers as submitters bidding for
their own house accounts. [2]Non-Primary dealer
submitters bidding or their own house accounts.
[3]Customers placing competitive bids through a
direct submitter, including foreign and inter-
national monetary authorities placing bids
through the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
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