By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices rose on Friday, pushing yields lower, as downbeat news from Europe encouraged investors to seek the safety of U.S. government debt.
Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR -1.38% , which move inversely to prices, fell 3 basis points to 2.01%.
A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Yields on 30-year notes 30_YEAR -0.86% slipped 3 basis points to 3.12%, while those on 5-year notes 5_YEAR -2.24% edged down 2 basis points to 0.88%.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street early Friday, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 25 points to 12,948. Read more about stock futures.
No major U.S. economic data are scheduled for release Friday, so traders focused instead on developments across the Atlantic. In Germany, retail sales fell 1.6% in January compared to the preceding month, defying expectations for a slight increase.
And in Spain, data showed an increase in jobless claims in February, while the government raised its budget deficit target to 5.8% of gross domestic product for 2012, compared to a previous target of 4.4%.
