The U.S. Treasury on Thursday will reopen CUSIP 9128286N5, auctioning $15 billion of a 4-year, 10-month Treasury Inflation-Protected Security. This is an especially interesting auction because it follows six months of rather dramatic yield declines.
A TIPS is an Treasury investment with a coupon rate that is well below that of a nominal Treasury of the same term. But with a TIPS, the investor's principal balance is adjusted up (or sometimes down) each month to match U.S. inflation.
This TIPS -- CUSIP 9128286N5 -- carries a coupon rate of 0.50%, which was set at