President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters as he meets with Romania's President Klaus Iohannis in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, August 20, 2019. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

President Donald Trump lauded Germany's ability to sell bonds with no interest Wednesday, but he didn't mention that Germany failed to sell more than half of what it brought to auction. tweet The German government sold 869 million euros of 30-year bonds with a negative yield, for the first time ever, adding to the world's growing $15 trillion in existing negative yielding debt. The bund, set to mature in 2050, has a zero coupon, meaning it pays no interest. Germany offered 2 billion euros worth of 30-year bunds, and investors were willing to buy less than half of it, with a yield of minus 0.11%. Trump said Germany was able to get investors to pay it for its debt, while the U.S. is a "more important" credit but must pay interest. "WHERE IS THE FEDERAL RESERVE?" Trump asked in the tweet, in his latest criticism of the Fed and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

"It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of some push back on the part of investors to this insanity of negative rates. We'll have to see for now," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Advisory Group. "'People said 'I can't buy this,' so that's why they sold less than half of what they were hoping for ... They were hoping to sell 2 billion euros worth. That's why we call it a failed auction." Boockvar said Trump should take a harder look at Europe, where the European Central Bank is expected to soon resort to cutting rates to even more negative levels and other forms of asset purchase stimulus. "He should look at their bank stocks. Wanting to emulate the European banking system, which has choked on negative rates, is not well thought-out," he said. Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates at BMO, said the German government was forced to buy the remaining bonds itself Wednesday, a pattern that is common for Berlin. "It was technically an uncovered auction, which means the German government needed to buy a reasonable portion of it," said Lyngen. Andy Brenner of National Alliance said Germany has held failed auctions in the past but that this was the worst. "This is the most significant I've seen in terms of a failed 30-year. For the Bundesbank to take 60% is unprecedented. There was no demand for 30-year paper at negative interest rates. They only could sell about 40% of it. A real investor can't make pension payments based on negative interest rates," he said. It is the negative yields and shockingly low rates elsewhere in the world that have been sending investors into the U.S. bond market in a hunt for safe investments with a yield. As a result, U.S. Treasury yields, which move opposite price, have fallen sharply, making loans cheaper for American businesses and consumers, including on home mortgages. The German auction comes during a month when rates have fallen sharply and German yields plumbed deeper into negative territory. U.S. yields also fell into record territory, with the U.S. 30-year reaching a record low of 1.91% last week. About a third of the world's trade-able bonds now have negative yields.