From BusinessWeek.com:
Treasuries headed for the worst year since at least 1978 as the U.S. stepped up debt sales to help spur growth in an economy recovering from its deepest recession in six decades.
U.S. seven-year notes were little changed before today’s $32 billion sale of the securities, the last of three auctions this week totaling $118 billion. The Treasury sold a record- tying $42 billion of five-year securities yesterday and $44 billion in two-year notes on Dec. 28. U.S. government securities have fallen 3.6 percent this year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes, the worst annual performance since at least 1978, when Merrill began collecting the data.
“It’s the last hoop the market has to jump through in 2009,” said James Collins, an interest-rate strategist in the futures group in Chicago at Citigroup Inc., one of 18 primary dealers obliged to participate in the Treasury’s auctions. “Yields have been trending higher. It’s been a response to increased supply.”