U.S. Treasury scales back Treasury bill issuance for second straight week to preserve ability to raise debt

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday cut the size of some of its benchmark Treasury bill tenders for the second week in a row, seeking to preserve its ability to raise debt under the statutory debt ceiling. The Treasury said it plans to issue $85bn of four-week Treasury bills on Thursday, a $5bn reduction in the size of the previous Treasury issue of the same maturity. The Treasury also announced it would issue $80 billion of 8-week Treasury bills on Thursday, also a $5 billion reduction in size. The size of Wednesday's regular 17-week Treasury bill tender was revised downward to $60 billion, a reduction of $2 billion. This is the second time that the Treasury has scaled back Treasury issuance, and will likely be one in a series of reductions, in order to preserve its ability to raise debt under the statutory debt ceiling.