Brian Chappatta, Columnist

U.S. Loses at World Cup and It’s Not Even Playing

Distracted bond traders skipped a Treasury auction. Thanks, Brazil-Mexico.

July 3, 2018 at 4:10 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Soccer fans 1, Treasury 0.
Photographer: AFP/Getty Images

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It’s bad enough for Americans that the U.S. men’s team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. But to add insult to injury, the tournament may have cost Uncle Sam during this week’s Treasury auctions.

The U.S. government’s three-month and four-week bill sales on Monday both drew the weakest demand since 2008 as measured by investors’ bids relative to the amount issued. As a result, the interest rate that the Treasury must pay was higher than indicated before the auctions. In a note recapping the poor three-month bill offering, Thomas Simons at Jefferies suggested “the simultaneous Brazil-Mexico World Cup match might have had a negative impact on auction participation.”