What Is US Treasury note?

A US Treasury note (T-note) is a marketable debt security issued by the United States government with a fixed interest rate and a maturity between 2 and 10 years. Treasury notes pay interest semiannually and are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.

Treasury note yields are widely used as the risk-free rate benchmark in financial models such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis. The 10-year Treasury yield is the most commonly referenced maturity for this purpose.

Treasury yield data is available programmatically through the FRED API using series such as DGS10 (10-year), DGS5 (5-year), and DGS2 (2-year).

See also

• Risk-free rate

• Benchmark

• FDIC national rate