The US Department of the Treasury conducted a $160 billion 20-year Treasury bond auction today at 1:00 PM, with a yield reaching as high as 5.104%.

BlockBeats News, May 22, the U.S. Department of the Treasury conducted a $16 billion auction of 20-year Treasury bonds at 1 a.m. today. Due to a lack of bidders, the yield on the 20-year U.S. Treasury bond briefly rose to 5.104%, the highest level since November 2023, before settling at 5.047%. This auction marked the first long-term bond auction since Moody's became the third and final major credit rating agency to downgrade the U.S. from its highest AAA rating last Friday.

Vanguard's Senior Portfolio Manager Brian Quigley previously stated that he believed this auction would serve as a key barometer of the market's appetite for long-term U.S. bonds. Tom di Galoma, Managing Director at Mischler Financial Group, said that if the yield surpasses 5%, it is expected that there will be strong demand from life insurance companies, as well as state and local pension funds for 20-year and 30-year Treasury bonds.

The rise in Treasury yields led to a 1% decline in the S&P 500 Index, a 0.6% drop in the Nasdaq, a 1.6% decrease in the Dow, and a temporary 3.3% pullback in Bitcoin.