Understanding the 5-90 phrase in the morning session

Question

I'm reading the transcript of berkshire hathaway shareholder meeting 2023: https://buffett.cnbc.com/video/2023/05/08/morning-session---2023-meeting.html

I couldn't understand this line:

We bought $3 billion of bills at 5-90. That's 5.92 bond equivalent yield.

1. Is the bills referring to U.S. Treasury Securities?
2. What does 5-90 mean?

Answer 1

Is the bills referring to U.S. Treasury Securities?

Yes, T-bills (Treasury Bills), which have a maturity of less than a year

What does 5-90 mean?

T-bills are sold at a discount to par and are quoted in yield rather than price. They paid a price equivalent to a yield of 5.90%. This is equivalent to 5.92% BEY due to different day count conventions.