U.S. Counts on Foreign Buyers

The Year's Last Treasury Auctions Feature Two, Five and Seven-Year Offerings

The U.S. government will again bank on foreign investors, including its biggest creditors China and Japan, to take a record-tying $118 billion in notes to be auctioned this week.

With foreign buyers holding about half of the Treasury market, their continued appetite for government securities is essential in order to continue funding mounting budget shortfalls in the U.S. at historically low interest rates. The auctions will be the last offerings of Treasury debt for 2009, adding to a record net supply of $1.48 trillion for the year.

They start Monday with $44 billion in two-year notes, followed by $42 billon ...

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