By David Enna, Tipswatch.com
Must be about time to do some traveling, right? I will be in Europe through the rest of July, mostly relaxing one of those floating hotels you see advertised on Masterpiece Theater.
On this trip — as opposed to the remote Galapagos Islands — I expect to have some form of internet almost all of the time. But my schedule will be packed and I won’t be able to monitor comments and financial news as much as normal. Be patient!
Of course, a lot will be happening in the next three weeks:
Sunday, July 16. I will publish a preview article on the upcoming auction of a new 10-year TIPS. That auction closes at 1 p.m. ET July 20. Although real yields dipped in the last few days, I think that auction will remain attractive. It is a new TIPS, meaning it will auction near par value with a good coupon rate. And it matures in 2033, the last year before the TIPS “gap years” of 2034 to 2039, when no TIPS are available.
Tuesday, July 18. I will publish a short analysis of how the 10-year TIPS that matured July 15 did as an investment. This is CUSIP 912828VM9. Hint: It did quite nicely versus a nominal 10-year Treasury and major bond funds.
Thursday, July 20. The 10-year TIPS auction closes at 1 pm ET, which will be 7 pm in Central Europe Time. I will probably be eating dinner? Drinking Riesling? Who knows? But I will try to post a short analysis of that auction sometime on Thursday.
Sunday, July 23. I will publish a projection (meaning “guess”) on where the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is heading for 2024 payments. The June inflation report sets a baseline for projections, but the SSA uses a complex formula and a little-followed inflation index. I’ll explain all that, then take a guess.
Wednesday, July 26. Around 2 pm ET, the Federal Reserve will announce its decision on short-term interest rates. I expect an increase of 25 basis points and continued caution from Chairman Jay Powell. I probably won’t be writing about this — there are 1,000 other sources for this news — unless something shocking happens.
Thursday, July 28. Another measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index for June, will be released at 8:30 am. ET. This is the Fed’s “preferred” index (at least until egg prices shot up 60%). I don’t write about the PCE but it’s an important factor in Fed decisions. The index is released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. After 8:30 am you can look for the results on this page.
Of course, there will be a slew of T-bill and Treasury note auctions during these three weeks. Normally, I post results of these auctions on my Twitter account (@Tipswatch), but while I am traveling that is nearly impossible. You can track the upcoming auctions and daily results on TreasuryDirect.
* * *
Feel free to post comments or questions below. If it is your first-ever comment, it will have to wait for moderation. After that, your comments will automatically appear. Please stay on topic and avoid political tirades.
David Enna is a financial journalist, not a financial adviser. He is not selling or profiting from any investment discussed. I Bonds and TIPS are not “get rich” investments; they are best used for capital preservation and inflation protection. They can be purchased through the Treasury or other providers without fees, commissions or carrying charges. Please do your own research before investing.
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 
Another slightly off-topic question: I have 5 TIPS through Fidelity, and the 7/15 interest payments are now posted for them. Fidelity is showing 2 payments for each TIPS, which I don’t believe ever happened before. (For instance, I checked the interest posted for them on 1/15/23, and there was only only one payment per bond.) These 5 TIPS mature 1/15/27, 1/15/28, 7/15/31, 7/15/32, and 1/15/33. Any idea about this oddity? An adjustment of some kind by Treasury? Thanks!
Never mind. In Fidelity’s system today (7/18) only one interest payment per bond shows up. There must have been a system error either on Fidelity’s or Treasury Direct’s end yesterday.
David, Off topic, but on the mark, I would love to learn more of your travel to Europe this month!! You piqued my interest with the photo of Miltenberg, Germany!! My beloved wife passed 32 days ago, so I need time to heal before I plan a trip to Miltenberg. I used to solo backpack in Europe 20 years ago. My last major solo trip was 2008 to Asia for 6 weeks. Thank you!!
So sorry to hear of your loss. Our trip this time is with Viking, from Amsterdam to Budapest; it is called the Grand European. We are in The Hague, Netherlands, for two days before boarding the ship. I also highly recommend Overseas Adventure Travel for small groups (up to 16) and good deals for single travelers. We will be traveling again with them later this year. I haven’t spent a lot of time in Germany, outside of Munich, so this will be fun.
Gute Reise!
Love your website. I’m not on twitter or threads. Curious about threads but don’t like the company.
I have a Threads account but I don’t post there yet because Google doesn’t allow posts from a PC. My posts (with links and graphics) are too complicated to do on a phone. So for the time being, Twitter is it for me.
Sorry, a bit out of topic.
I think this is something already been asked/mentioned before but I can’t see to find the comment on the topic.
I have noticed that the 20 years Treasury (30 years auctioned in 2013) has been stay above 4% in the secondary while the 10/30 years both below 4%.
Any idea why? is it a decent buy here for someone want a longer term exposure (10 years+)?
Any comment would be appreciated.
The Treasury does auction a new 20-year bond every month. The next one, a reopening, is coming up on July 19. The original auction last month got a yield of 4.010% and this one might be about the same. I have noticed that 20-year TIPS also recently had higher yields than the 10-year and 30-year TIPS. Not sure why.