Treasury Sells 30-Year Bonds Above 5% for First Time Since 2007 — Evening Brief – 05.13.26

A $25 billion U.S. 30-year Treasury auction on Wednesday cleared with a high yield above 5% for the first time since before the global financial crisis, underscoring how investors are demanding more compensation to lock up capital at the long end of the curve.

The bond priced at a high yield of 5.046%, up sharply from 4.876% at April’s auction. The issue tailed the 5.041% when-issued level by 0.5 basis points, marking a second consecutive tail after a string of four stop-throughs, a sign demand was softer than pre-auction trading implied. The result carried historical significance as well. It was the first 30-year auction to price with a 5% coupon and the first to clear above 5% since August 2007.

Overall bidding statistics pointed to a more tentative tone. The bid-to-cover ratio came in at 2.303, down from 2.385 in April, below the recent six-auction average of 2.43 and the weakest reading since November 2025. That suggests investors were less aggressive in submitting bids at or below the eventual clearing yield.

The buyer mix was somewhat more resilient than the headline cover ratio implied. Indirect bidders, often a proxy for foreign central banks and global real-money accounts, took 66.6% of the issue, up from 64.1% last month and just shy of the recent 66.8% average.

Direct bidders were awarded 21.74%, leaving primary dealers with 11.7% of the auction, a level that, while not alarming in isolation, adds to a picture of muted enthusiasm for America’s longest-dated paper.