What Is a Treasury Security?
Treasury securities are bonds issued by the United States federal government, to generate revenue. Treasury securities are backed by the United States government, making a default very unlikely and the bond, therefore, a safe investment. Because of this guarantee, the return is very low, making government securities a conservative investment.
Electronic Resources at NYPL
- S&P Capital IQ (Standard and Poor's Capital IQ)S&P Capital IQ offers current and historic prices on federal securities.
Types of Treasury Securities
There are five major types of government securities:
- T-Bills - securities with a maturity date of one year or less from the issuance.
- T-Notes - securities with a maturity date between two, three, five, seven or ten years.
- T-Bonds - securities with a maturity date of thirty years or greater.
- Treasury-Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) - securities indexed to inflation in order to protect investors from a decline in the purchasing power of their money. As inflation rises, TIPS adjust in price to maintain its real value.
- Savings Bonds - securities that are non-transferrable and cannot be sold on secondary markets. Savings bonds are redeemable only by the purchaser or a beneficiary.
External Resources
- FINRA Market DataSearch for information on United States treasuries by CUSIP.
- TreasuryDirectThis is the federal government's website for purchasing federal government securities.