Today's Treasury auction of $17 billion in a new five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Security - CUSIP 912828ZJ2 - reflected a new reality of ultra-low yields and grim inflation expectations.
Investors got a real yield to maturity of -0.320%, the lowest for any TIPS auction of this term in five years.
A TIPS is an investment that pays a coupon rate below that of other Treasury investments of the same term. But with a TIPS, the principal balance adjusts each month (usually up, but sometimes down) to match the current U.S. inflation rate. So the "real yield