Investment Watch

Individual investors get a chance to buy two-year Treasury notes direct from Uncle Sam this week, but will they bite? If market yields stay about where the are, the average annualized yield on the $18.25-billion in two-year notes to be auctioned Wednesday will be about 5.76%, the highest since September. The notes in minimums of $5,000, can be purchased through the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles, or via brokerages and banks for a fee. If you were planning to lock up money in a bank CD anyway, you might want to consider Treasury securities, which have an edge: Treasury interest is exempt from state income tax; CD interest isn’t.