By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries yields dropped for the third day on Monday as some investors were drawn to higher yields caused by a dramatic selloff earlier this month. Treasuries yields have backed up from record lows reached last month as investors bet that central banks will take further actions to try to stem weakening growth. Benchmark 10-year note yields rose as high as 1.73 percent last week, up over 30 basis points from the record low of 1.38 percent on July 25. The increase in yields attracted buyers last week at the 1.70 percent level, said Jim Vogel, interest rate strategist at FTN Financial in Memphis Tennessee. Investors are also waiting on the outcomes of key central bank meetings next month, resulting in light trading patterns, with few important data releases to trade off scheduled for the coming week. "Almost everything is weighted towards the last week, when we get revised GDP, when everyone will be talking about what is coming up at Jackson Hole, and when people will try to start figuring out their forecast for August payrolls," Vogel said. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak at the central bank's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in late August, two weeks before the Fed's next policy-setting meeting scheduled for Sept 12-13. Markets have been buoyed in recent months by high expectations of further central bank intervention, with expectations that the Fed and the European Central Bank will launch new bond purchase programs when they both meet in September. ECB President Mario Draghi indicated earlier this month that the central bank may again start buying government bonds to reduce crippling Spanish and Italian borrowing costs but not before September - and only if governments activated the euro zone's bailout funds to join the ECB in buying bonds. In the U.S., retail sales data on Tuesday will be among the most closely watched releases in the coming week. The data is expected to show that retail sales grew 0.3 percent in July, according to the median estimate of 72 economists polled by Reuters. Data pointed to sluggish global growth on Monday with Japan's economy expanding just 0.3 percent in April-June, half the pace expected. Trade data also showed that China's July exports grew a mere 1 percent - well below the consensus call for growth of 8.6 percent.

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