NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The dollar once again hit a fresh four-year low against the euro Monday after comments from Treasury Secretary John Snow, while bonds inched higher.

Just after 5:00 p.m. ET, the euro bought $1.1558, compared with $1.1495 late Friday. The dollar also slipped against the yen, buying ¥116.95 compared with ¥117.21 late Friday.

On some talk shows Sunday, Snow said the weakness in the dollar would help U.S. exports, and that he thought exports were getting stronger, which helped the currency inch lower again Monday. The dollar has fallen 6.7 percent against the world's major currencies this year, and is down 17.3 percent from where it was a year ago.

"Snow's comments poured petrol on the fire and reinforced the view that the Americans want a weaker dollar," Neal Kimberley, senior foreign exchange manager at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi in London, told Reuters.

Last week Federal Reserve policy makers decided to leave U.S. interest rates unchanged, as did the European Central Bank. The Fed chose to issue a bias towards easing, citing weak economic conditions, which has some speculating about a possible rate cut at the Fed's next meeting in June.

With the European Central Bank's rate at 2.50 percent compared with the U.S. benchmark rate of 1.25 percent, investors are trading their dollars for euros and moving cash in search of higher yields for their money.

Meanwhile, Treasurys posted modest gains in late trading.

The benchmark 10-year note rose 11/32 of a point in price to 99-28/32, cutting its yield to 3.64 percent from 3.68 percent late Friday. The 30-year bond gained 13/32 of a point to 111-8/32, yielding 4.65 percent.

The five-year note jumped 6/32 of a point to 100-6/32, yielding 2.58 percent. The two-year note rose 1/32 of a point to 100-12/32, yielding 1.44 percent. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.

"The stock market rally has pulled us far off the day's highs, and we could be tied to equities for further direction until midweek," said Mary-Ann Hurley, senior Treasurys trader with D. A. Davidson in Seattle.

Bill Hornbarger, fixed income specialist at A. G. Edwards, said the benchmark 10-year note was near the low end of a range traded since September.

A flurry of key economic reports starts to roll at midweek. April retail sales on Wednesday and the consumer price index report on Friday will be watched for a whiff of deflation. Retail sales are forecast to increase by 0.4 percent as a bounce in consumer confidence at the end of the Iraq war is partially balanced by worries about a soft jobs market.

The CPI figures will be "very important," Hurley said. "Unless we see some sort of improvement in the data, the Fed is poised to move" on rates, she said.

Many dealers expect a cut to the federal funds rate at the June 24-25 FOMC meeting; most regard chances for an inter-meeting cut as slim.

Two regional Fed surveys released Monday provided offsetting results for the manufacturing sector.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index, reported Monday, rose to 15 in April from 11 in March.

The Chicago Fed's Midwest Manufacturing index for March fell to 98.8 from 99.6. Three of the four component sectors declined, with autos down 2.0 percent for the month.

The Chicago index was brushed aside as a "wartime" indicator. Manufacturing surveys on Thursday from the Philadelphia Fed and the New York are seen as more reflective of current conditions.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig speaks on the economic outlook at 9:45 p.m. ET Tuesday, one of the first chances to test the Fed's pulse since the May 6 FOMC meeting.