Who is buying Treasuries these days ? (make money, financial, wage, banks)

[HappyTexan]

The guys at SeekingAlpha write some pretty good articles that dive deep into some of the financial goings on.

Here's one that drills down into the last Treasury Auction.
I'm not sure what to make of it so I need to read up some more before making an opinion.

But I do have a TreasuryDirect account all set up and ready to go should I need to park my money somewhere. That is where you go if you want to secure return OF capital and don't care about return ON capital.

I had read it's a hassle to get set up..and it was. You don't need to deposit any money to set up an account so it can't hurt having this in your back pocket.

With all the news about China selling Treasuries, buying Gold and saying they don't trust US investments..this just adds to the fire about who IS buying our Treasuries if not China.

Something Very Strange Is Happening With Treasuries - NASDAQ.com

snippet:
"There are times in life when one witnesses something so outside the scope of normal experience, that at first you don't see it.
..
Keep your eye on US Treasuries. Stocks, despite being so popular with investors are usually the LAST to get what's coming down the pike. And investors just parked $30 billion for a month with Uncle Sam at virtually NO YIELD yesterday.

Put another way, someone(s) is/are willing to not make money just for the sake of insuring return OF capital (the US can always print money to return it) rather than any return ON capital."

[chet everett]

I prefer the much less "black helicopter-ish" view of the main stream press: Accepted Direct Bids for 4-Week Treasury Auction Hit 12% - MarketBeat - WSJ

[HappyTexan]

Chet..your article was on the Direct bidders. The article I posted was on Primary Dealers.
Your article is dated 1/2010..almost 2 months old. My article is about this week's auction.

Is there some connection between the 1/20 auction and the 2/23 auction ?

[chet everett]

You bet. The fact is that the four week auctions, minor though they tend to be, are drawing undue attention from the bored and panic-prone as they search for ever more obscure tea-leaves to read.

The primary dealers very much are mentioned in the article I linked to:

primary dealers see several possible scenarios, all driven by investors’ desire not to tip their hand to the primary-dealer community. These investors–money managers or hedge funds–could be, for example, placing large-scale wagers on another downturn in the economy or on a bout of international instability that could send Treasury prices higher on safe-haven buying. Or they may be using Treasurys to hedge their bets or cover losses in other asset classes. Some foreign central banks with large dollar holdings may have decided to use the direct-bidding system to avoid drawing unwanted market attention or sparking additional volatility in bond markets through their actions.
But there may be reason to let the direct bidders lie for now. Zeng continues:
Indeed, recent Treasury auctions have gone well with the help of the rise in direct bids, despite worries that the record amount of supply may eventually exhaust buyers. Moreover, if foreign central banks such as China and Japan are the ones sidestepping the primary dealers, the Treasury Department may be hesitant to act given those countries’ large holdings of U.S. deb

There are almost as many explanations as there are stars. Maybe the dealers are working with the Fed to keep rates low. Maybe George Soros is working some crazy hedge. Maybe the OPEC countries think they can manipulate the economy better than Berneke & Friends can. All that matters is the auction is working, rates are low and Wall Street is happy.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by chet everett

All that matters is the auction is working, rates are low and Wall Street is happy.

I see what you're saying. But I have "buts....".
I'll just keep digging and reading more on the various buyers.

Thanks for your insight into this.

[LeavingMA]

Well the two biggest owners of U.S. treasuries are Japan and then China. But the largest owner of U.S. Treasuries is...our own Fed.