The U.S. Treasury held an auction today at 1 PM for $16 billion of 20-year bonds, with yields reaching as high as 5.104%.

On May 22, the U.S. Treasury auctioned $16 billion of 20-year Treasury bonds at 1 a.m. today, or due to the lack of bidders, the final 20-year Treasury yield rose to 5.104% at one point, the highest level since November 2023, and the final published value was 5.047%. This is the first auction of long-term Treasury bonds since Moody's became the third and last major rating agency to downgrade the U.S. from the highest AAA credit rating last Friday. Brian Quigley, senior portfolio manager at Vanguard, previously said he believes the auction will be an important indicator of market demand for long-term Treasury bonds. Tom di Galoma, managing director of Mischler Financial Group, said that if yields break above 5%, 20- and 30-year Treasuries are expected to attract strong demand from life insurers and state and local pension funds. The rise in U.S. Treasury yields sent the S&P 500 down 1%, the Nasdaq down 0.6%, the Dow down 1.6%, and Bitcoin retreated about 3.3% at one point.