Treasury to keep most auction sizes unchanged for next few quarters

Feb 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday said it expects to keep its coupon and floating rate note auction sizes steady for at least the next several quarters, but will continue to incrementally increase the size of its Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) auctions.

It also plans to sell $125 billion in its quarterly refunding next week, which will raise $18.8 billion in new cash and refund $106.2 billion in securities. This will include $58 billion in three-year notes, $42 billion in 10-year notes and $25 billion in 30-year bonds.

The Treasury said that it expects to transition its six-month cash management bill to a benchmark offering, to be announced on Feb. 13 and auctioned on Feb. 18.

Meanwhile, the government also noted that there will be “greater-than-normal variability in benchmark bill issuance and significant usage” of cash management bills until the U.S. debt limit is raised or suspended.