Investing.com -- The U.S. government sold $22 billion of 30-year notes on Thursday at a higher-than-expected yield as  internal demand cooled.

The notes were awarded at 4.623%, above the pre-sale, or when-issue, rate of 4.612%, but below the 4.748% yield high seen in the prior auction.

The bid to cover ratio for the auction rose to 2.37 from 2.33 seen in the prior auction.

Indirects, which represent international demand fell to 60.5% versus six-month averages 68.4%

The yield on the United States 30-Year trading slipped to 4.599% following the auction result.