Treasury to trim debt auctions that accelerated in pandemic

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department plans to start scaling back the size of some of its government debt auctions, a sign that the government’s huge pandemic-driven borrowing needs are starting to ease. The government began selling debt at accelerated levels to fund the trillion-dollar-plus support bills Congress started passing the the spring of 2020 after the pandemic-triggered shutdowns forced millions of people out of work. Treasury on Wednesday released a schedule for auction sizes of securities ranging from two-year notes to 30-year bonds. Over the next three months,  the Treasury anticipates reducing the size of the two-year, three-year and five-year note auctions by $2 billion each on a monthly basis through the end of January.