By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices rose Friday, pushing bonds toward the best weekly gains since August and extending a rally from the previous session on increasing worries that the problems in Europe will slow global growth.
Those fears have investors shifting away from riskier assets including stocks and towards the relative security of U.S. debt.
"There is a huge amount of uncertainty out there about what's going on in Europe," said Scot Johnson, senior client portfolio manager for Invesco Fixed Income. "Uncertainty breeds fear and fear increases appetite for less risky assets."
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.17, -0.05, -1.46%) fell 4 basis points to 3.17%. Yields move inversely to prices and a basis point is 0.01%.
The yield fell as low as 3.13% earlier, the lowest levels since last October. It's declined for four sessions, the longest streak since March. Read about recent bond activity.
Ten-year yields have fallen from 3.44% a week ago, the biggest decline since August.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.72, +0.00, +0.42%) declined 1 basis point to 0.70%. They briefly touched 0.69% during the session, the lowest since December.
Two-year yields are headed for a fourth weekly decline.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX 1,076, +4.52, +0.42%) is on track to lose 5.6% this week and is down almost 10% this month. Read about stocks.
No U.S. economic reports are scheduled for the day.
"The market continues to be highly correlated with risk-assets movement," said Jim Lee, a strategist at RBS Securities.
