NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Treasury prices were mixed after a short-lived hop higher earlier Friday, as investors mulled a weaker reading on consumer sentiment, lower than expected producer prices, and data showing a widening of the trade gap.
Meanwhile, the dollar hit another new low against the euro, hurt by weak economic data and comments from Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Around 3:10 p.m. ET, the benchmark 10-year note dipped 3/32 of a point in price to trade at 100-1/16 with a yield of 4.23 percent, little changed from late Thursday. But the 30-year bond managed to rise 6/32 of a point to 104-6/32 to yield 5.08 percent, down from 5.11 percent Thursday.
The two-year note slipped 1/16 of a point to 100-3/32 to yield 1.81 percent, and the five-year note lost 3/32 to 100-22/32, yielding 3.22 percent.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 89.6 in December from 93.7 the month before, confounding analysts who had looked for an improvement to 96.0. Most of the weakness came in the current conditions index which dived to 93.6 from 102.5.
An earlier government report showed U.S. wholesale prices fell in November for the first time since May, surprising many Wall Street observers expecting a slight gain.
The Labor Department said its producer price index (PPI), a measure of wholesale prices, fell 0.3 percent following a 0.8 percent gain in October. The so-called core PPI, which excludes often volatile food and energy prices, fell 0.1 percent after rising 0.5 percent in October. Economists, on average, expected PPI to rise 0.1 percent and core PPI to be flat, according to Briefing.com.
"The decline by the PPI overall and the dip by the core PPI is very much consistent with the general absence of inflation risks," John Lonski, chief economist, Moody's Investors Service in New York, told Reuters.
In addition, record imports from China, the European Union and Latin America widened the U.S. trade deficit to $41.8 billion in October, even as exports rose to their highest level in thirty-one months, according to a report from the Commerce Department.
The trade gap was slightly larger than the mid-point estimate of $41.5 billion from analysts surveyed by Reuters before the report. Imports climbed 2.1 percent in October to a record $129.7 billion as the U.S. economy picked up steam.
In the currency market, the euro rose to a new record high of $1.2300 against the dollar, before trading back down to $1.2295. The European currency bought $1.2209 late Thursday. The spike came after Treasury Secretary John Snow was reported to have said that the dollar's decline had been orderly on a TV news program.
Meanwhile, the dollar purchased ¥107.74, down from ¥108.03 Thursday.
"The trade release has reminded the market of the structural weakness of the dollar," Paul Mackel, currency strategist at ABN Amro, told Reuters.
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