An auction of 20-year Treasury bonds went poorly Wednesday afternoon, leading to a broad-based selloff in government debt.
The outcome of the sale was "very ugly,'' which was "quite surprising given the fact that the 20-year was fairly well-bid all day," said Tom di Galoma, co-head of global rates trading for BTIG in New York.
Direct bidders took 19.7% of the sale, indirect bidders took 59.1% and dealers took a higher-than-average 21.2%, he said via phone. Soon after the results came in, 1-year through 30-year rates all headed higher on the day.