Now, persons are shopping for document quantities of T-bills, each at common Treasury auctions and thru exchange-traded funds. Individual investor demand surged to $13.4 billion in April, based mostly on noncompetitive bids, a great proxy for particular person investor demand, up from $1.6 billion in January 2022. The SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (ticker: BIL) has $30 billion in belongings, double its January 2022 complete, whereas the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has almost doubled, to $10 billion, previously six months, Morningstar stories. “Amid rising rates, fixed-income securities are back in vogue, and arguably none with as much vengeance as the historically sleepy T-bill,” writes Chris Larkin at Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade division.

Not way back, traders had to purchase junk bonds or rising market debt to get 5%. Even now, T-bill yields are corresponding to these on riskier bonds reminiscent of high-grade corporates, which yield 4.5%, and mortgage securities, which provide 5.5%. “You’re now able to earn a really healthy yield without taking on interest-rate risk,” says Dhruv Nagrath, a director of fixed-income technique at BlackRock. “It has reset the landscape in fixed income.”

T-bills are a substitute for financial institution accounts paying low charges, and in contrast to certificates of deposit and company bonds, their curiosity is exempt from state and native taxes. They’re additionally competitors for shares.

“U.S. T-bills are the safest and easiest alternative to money markets and low-rate bank deposits,” says David Feinman, a personal investor and former high-yield bond dealer. “The three- to six-month maturities now are the most attractive to me, optimizing yield with reasonable liquidity.”

The Treasury auctions four-week, eight-week, 13-week, 17-week and 26-week T-bills every week and 52-week payments each 4 weeks. Individuals should buy payments via the TreasuryDirect.gov web site, with a $100 minimal, or by way of common auctions via brokerage corporations reminiscent of Fidelity and E*Trade, often with out paying a payment. Treasury payments are offered at a reduction from face worth, with traders paid face worth of $100 at maturity. The distinction is the curiosity cost. For instance, a 17-week invoice was offered final week at $98.26 with traders getting $1.74 at maturity as curiosity. Conventional bonds usually promote at face worth and make money curiosity funds.

Many traders reinvest the proceeds of maturing T-bills in newly auctioned ones, a course of often called rolling. It’s greatest to carry a T-bill till maturity; a sale previous to the redemption date might be pricey, attributable to charges charged by securities brokers.

Treasury-bill ETFs simplify possession and provide straightforward liquidity and month-to-month earnings. Bid-ask spreads are tight—often only a penny. The SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month and iShares 0-3 Month ETFs have common maturities of simply over a month, and the iShares Short Treasury Bond
ETF (SHV), about three months. All three sport yields above 4.5%.

While payments are about as risk-free as a safety can get, they carry “reinvestment” threat—the following invoice you purchase would possibly yield lower than the one you personal. Right now, T-bills yield greater than the two-year Treasury observe, at 4.5%, and the 10-year, at 3.8%. But if the Fed begins slicing rates of interest, invoice yields might fall beneath 4% in a yr. That would nonetheless be ample; it’s unlikely that quick charges will head again towards zero, the place they stood for many of the previous 15 years.

The debt-ceiling disaster additionally has created a threat—the prospect of a default on Treasury debt if a deal isn’t reached by early June. A 21-day T-bill was offered final week at a yield of greater than 6%, reflecting that concern. But the scenario is prone to be resolved, and even when it takes longer than anticipated, invoice holders would in all probability be made complete, simply as they had been when Uncle Sam delayed some funds in 1979 (partly due to a debt-ceiling debate).

When the ceiling is raised, there might be a deluge of T-bill issuance over two months—maybe as much as $700 billion, notes Goldman Sachs—as Washington rebuilds its depleted money balances. That ought to imply plenty of alternatives to purchase payments at excessive yields.

For traders, savers, and retirees, the excellent news is that money is now not trash—and it’s prone to keep that approach.

Write to ANDREW BARY at andrew.bary@barrons.com