The US held a 2-year treasury bond auction today and some $42 billion was awarded at a yield to maturity of 0.769%.

In Canada, the 2-year government note is trading at 1.69%.

I can’t think of a single rational reason why a retail investor (that has a lot less than $42 billion in the bank account) would want to purchase these types of securities when there are relatively risk-free alternatives (such as “near guarantee” GICs and corporate bonds of issuers that would only default in the event of an economic apocalypse).