The U.S. Treasury sold $50 billion of four-week bills, kickingoff what's forecast to be the largest month of short-term debtsales in seven years, after issuance shrank before the deadline toreach a compromise on the U.S. debt ceiling.

The $225 billion of bills expected to be sold this month is themost since the Treasury stepped up issuance during the financialcrisis to help bail out banks as demand for the safest assetssurged. Tuesday's sale is the biggest since December 2014.

The $50 billion of four-week notes sold at a rate of 0.07percent, as investors submitted bids amounting to 3.46 times theamount of debt issued, a measure known as the bid-to-cover ratio.The supply comes as regulations designed to protect money-market mutual fund investorsfrom unforeseen losses are pushing more asset managers into U.S.government securities.