By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices slipped for the first day in seven on Friday, nudging yields away from the all-time lows they approached during the rally.
“Interest-rate markets are taking a breather after a strong rally over the past week or so,” said Richard Gilhooly, U.S. director of interest-rate strategy at TD Securities.
Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR +1.15% , which move inversely to prices, rose 2 basis points to 1.49%.
A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point. The record closing low is 1.467%, according to FactSet data.
Five-year-note yields 5_YEAR +1.27% were little changed at 0.64%, just above the record low of 0.62%.
Yields on 30-year bonds 30_YEAR +0.51% added 1 basis point to 2.57%. The record low set in early June was 2.54%.
Benchmark 10-year yields fell for the prior six session, the longest run since one ending in January, as investors reacted to a weaker-than-expected U.S. employment report and a continued lack of major action out of Europe to stem its sovereign-debt crisis from engulfing two of the region’s largest economies.
Then Wednesday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes gave no hint of imminent easing, and other global central banks also focused on worries about growth potential. Read more on Treasury bonds, Fed.
“The immediate focus of the fixed income markets is on weakening global growth trends,” said Bill O’Donnell, head of Treasury strategy at RBS Securities. “With the optics of global growth looking dimmer, and with huge uncertainty over Europe, the U.S. elections and the fiscal cliff remaining, it’s hard to imagine that U.S. rates will move far from the lower rate ranges that have persisted for over a month now.”
Bonds slipped slightly after a report showed U.S. producer prices unexpectedly rose 0.1% in June. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.2%, in line with forecasts. Read about wholesale prices.
Still to come is a report on U.S. consumer confidence.
Deborah Levine is a MarketWatch reporter, based in New York.
