World's Most Liquid Securities Market Starts to Get Gummed Up
- U.S. delays two-year note auction amid congressional standoff
- Investors call it threat tactic, worry about further delays
This article is for subscribers only.
The impasse over the U.S. debt limit is gumming up the machinery of the world’s most liquid securities market.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday said it will postpone an auction of two-year notes because the sale might end up breaching the debt cap, the first delay related to the ceiling in more than a decade. Eight days earlier, the Treasury held off for a half hour on releasing results from the smallest four-week bill auction since 2001 to verify that rules which limit individual bid sizes were followed.