Looks like a lot of quantitative easing today with US gov't buying much of its own 3 year issue. Indirect purchases dropped from 68% in Nov and 60% in Dec to 38% today. Heaven knows whats really happening with all the changes that have been made to hide how much the gov't is actually buying but Indirect Bids used to be foreign and outsiders purchases and a drop of this magnitude is significant.

The following is from Zero Hedge site:

$40 Billion 3 Year Auction Closes At 1.49% High Yield, Indrect Bid At 38% Compared With 60.9% In December

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/12/2010 13:14 -0500

• High Yield

• Yields 1.490% vs. Exp. 1.513%
• Bid To Cover 2.98 vs. Avg. 2.99 (Prev. 2.98)
• Indirects 38% vs. Avg. 59.02% (Prev. 60.9%)
• Indirect Bid To Cover at 1.37
  
• Alloted at high 79.20%
• Direct bid surges from 2.9% in December to 23%

Indirect bid plunges to 38%, from 60.9% in December, 68.5% in November and a 59.02% average. Direct Bidders jump to a record 23% compared to 2.9% in December. This is a very material development in change of the traditional purchasers of govvies.