U.S. government debt rallied on Friday after a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, giving 2- and 10-year yields their biggest weekly declines in at least a month.
What happened
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The yield on the 2-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD02Y
fell 11.3 basis points to 4.531%, from 4.644% on Thursday. The yield declined 15.6 basis points for the week, the biggest weekly decline since the period that ended Jan. 12. -
The yield on the 10-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
dropped 7.1 basis points to 4.180%, from 4.251% on Thursday. It finished 7.8 basis points lower for the week, the biggest weekly decline since the period that ended Feb. 2. - Friday’s levels were the lowest for the 2- and 10-year yields since Feb. 12, based on 3 p.m. Eastern time figures from Dow Jones Market Data.
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The yield on the 30-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
fell 4.9 basis points to 4.326%, from 4.375% on Thursday. Friday’s level was the lowest since Feb. 7. The yield declined 5.3 basis points this week.
What drove markets
Friday’s U.S. economic-data releases brought a pair of mixed reports on manufacturing.
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index showed that activity contracted in February for a 16th straight month. But the final reading of S&P Global’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index inched up to 52.2 in February versus an initial reading of 51.5, signaling a quicker pace of improvement in that sector.
Separately, consumer sentiment moved sideways in February, slipping from levels seen in January but holding on to gains from over the past three months, according to the University of Michigan. And construction spending fell in January for the first time since December 2022.
Treasury yields had ended February with their biggest monthly gains since 2023, following a series of data that pointed to continued persistent inflation. On Thursday, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the PCE price index, was in line with expectations for January, but still hot.
Read: ‘The Fed will not cut rates this year,’ says Wall Street economist
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