By Deborah Levine
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Short-term Treasury prices briefly crept higher and the dollar stayed up against the euro and Japanese yen on Wednesday after a report said import prices rose 0.6% in August. Also, the New York Federal Reserve Bank's Empire State Manufacturing index fell to 4.1 in September from 7.1 in August. Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.51, +0.01, +1.60%) , which move inversely to prices, fell to 0.48% then rebounded 1 basis point to 0.51%. The dollar index (DXY 81.67, +0.59, +0.72%) , which tracks the performance of the U.S. unit a basket of six major currencies, stood at 81.674, up from 81.064 late Tuesday. The euro (EURUSD 1.2974, -0.0016, -0.1232%) slipped to $1.2978, down from $1.3024 late Tuesday. The dollar rose 3% against the yen (USDYEN 85.6000, +2.5700, +3.0953%) . Long-term Treasurys were lower before the data, with 10-year yields (UST10Y 2.72, +0.04, +1.57%) staying up 3 basis points at 2.71%. Japan's intervention to weaken the yen limited losses on shorter-dated debt, "assuming the intervention funds will find their way into bills," said strategists at Jefferies & Co. Still to come is the Federal Reserve's purchase of Treasurys as part of its buyback program.
