2010-Feb-3 - Treasury to auction $81 billion next week

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Treasury Department will sell $81 billion in notes and bonds next week in its quarterly refunding auctions, the government said Wednesday.

The department will auction $40 billion of 3-year notes, $25 billion of 10-year notes and $16 billion in 30-year bonds to refund $48.3 billion in maturing securities and raise about $32.7 billion.

The package of government debt is identical to the one offered in November.

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The rest of the federal government's financing requirements will be met with weekly bills, monthly notes and other instruments, the Treasury said.

It's likely to issue cash management bills as well personal business card.

A Treasury official said that coupon auction sizes have reached an inflection point.

For now, the sizes of auctions should be stable, the official said. At some point reducing auction sizes may need to come down.

The Treasury also said it was considering a second reopening of 10-year Treasury inflation-indexed security offerings.

The official said that the government may hit the debt ceiling as early as the end of February. Late last month, the Senate passed legislation authorizing a $1.9 trillion increase in the debt limit, to $14.3 trillion, while a similar measure remains under consideration in the House of Representatives.

Treasury to auction $81 billion next week