sold out in one minute again!
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and a new round of electronic savings bonds are also officially on sale this morning.
Public information shows that the third installment of 2024 savings bonds (electronic) (hereinafter referred to as the third installment) and the fourth installment of 2024 savings bonds (electronic) (hereinafter referred to as the fourth installment) will be officially issued on June 10 . Among them, the annual coupon rate of the third installment is 2.38%, and the annual interest rate of the fourth installment is 2.5%.
reporters learned from many banks that this round of government bonds was sold at 8:30 this morning and was sold out quickly. Take Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as an example. Around 8 o'clock this morning, the page showed that the bank's third and fourth tranches each have a quota of about 1.47 billion yuan.
At 8:35, the reporter saw on this page that as of 8:31, the fourth phase of savings bonds had been sold out; at 28:33, the third phase of savings bonds had also been sold out.
Reporters noticed that the sale of this round of treasury bonds took place during the Dragon Boat Festival, and many bank branches were closed. Many elderly people who are keen to buy treasury bonds were unable to buy them because they did not know how to use the app. However, young friends who are familiar with the app also generally report on social platforms that they “can’t buy it”.
Public information shows that the third and fourth phases of treasury bonds are both fixed-rate and fixed-term varieties, with a maximum issuance amount of 50 billion yuan in total.
Among them, the third phase has a term of 3 years, the annual coupon rate is 2.38%, and the maximum issuance amount is 25 billion yuan; the fourth phase has a term of 5 years, the annual coupon rate is 2.5%, and the maximum issuance amount is 25 billion yuan. The issuance period of the two tranches of
treasury bonds is from June 10 to 19, 2024, with interest starting on June 10, 2024. Interest is paid annually, and interest is paid on June 10 each year. Among them, the third installment will repay the principal and pay the last year's interest on June 10, 2027, and the fourth installment will repay the principal and pay the last year's interest on June 10, 2029. The purchase of each issue of treasury bonds by a single individual treasury bond secondary custody account shall not exceed 3 million yuan.
It is worth noting that the first to be sold out was the fourth tranche of 5-year Treasury bonds. According to feedback from many banks, the limit is basically gone as soon as it goes online. As of 10 a.m., some banks still have a small amount of 3-year Treasury bonds.
On the morning of April 10 this year, the first and second phases of the 2024 Savings Bonds (electronic) were officially issued. Sales were also booming at that time, and they were sold out in one minute.
Why are national bonds so popular?
Reporters noticed that since this year, whether they are electronic savings bonds or certificate savings bonds, as well as the ultra-long-term special bonds issued this year, they have been sold out as soon as they go online.
In fact, compared with last year, the interest rates on savings bonds of the same term issued this year have dropped significantly. Taking the third and fourth installments of 2023 savings treasury bonds (certificate type) as an example, the annual coupon rate of the 3-year treasury bond is 2.95%, and the annual coupon rate of the 5-year treasury bond is 3.07%. This year, the coupon rates of government bonds with the same term are 2.38% and 2.5% respectively, both 57 bp lower than last year.
According to interviews with reporters, many investors believe that although the coupon rate of government bonds has dropped significantly, it is still higher than the bank deposit interest rate in the same period. Moreover, bank deposit interest rates are likely to continue to fall in the future.
Zhou Maohua, a researcher at the Macro Market Department of China Everbright Bank, believes that savings bonds pay interest on an annual basis, are flexible for early withdrawal and accrue interest in installments, thus avoiding the problem of interest losses faced by ordinary deposits when withdrawn in advance. In recent years, interest rates on savings deposits, especially time deposits, have dropped significantly. Savings bonds can better balance income and liquidity needs, and some investors use them to replace savings deposits. In addition, some residents still have certain expectations for a decline in deposit interest rates in the future, which has also increased their enthusiasm for investing in government bonds.
Ming Ming, chief economist of CITIC Securities, said in an interview that deposit interest rates have continued to decline recently, and the equity market has fluctuated greatly. The subscription method of savings bonds is convenient, and has the advantages of no default risk, low investment threshold, and stable and predictable returns. In addition, in terms of liquidity, investors can also obtain short-term bank loans through the pledge of savings bonds.
"Considering the downward trend of broad-spectrum interest rates, high-yield assets will be more limited in the future, so there is still a large demand for government bond investment." Mingming said.
Gao Shanwen, chief economist of SDIC Securities, also believes that the decline in China's long-term marginal capital return has driven the decline of the long-term interest rate center. Based on this background, it can be expected that the 10-year government bond interest rate will continue to decline in the next ten years and will continue to decline. fell to around 2%.
Attachment: List of members of the savings bond underwriting syndicate from 2024 to 2026
