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• U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday, steepening the yield curve, as traders closed out some curve-flattener positions and dealers reduced their holdings of longer-dated debt following this week's auctions.

Dealers sold their purchases from the $23 billion 10-year and $15 billion 30-year auctions this week, which were part of the government's $64 billion quarterly refunding, analysts said.

Curve flatteners, in which traders favor longer-dated issues over shorter-dated ones, have made longer-maturity Treasuries expensive. The sell-offs in junk bonds and stocks have raised concerns about stretched valuation across asset classes given their impressive gains this year, traders and analysts said.

The curve move coincided with some stabilization in the junk bond sector, which had been battered in recent days, partly on worries about a delay in U.S. federal tax cuts. Yield spreads between short- and longer-dated Treasuries grew to their widest in a week.

"It's a reversal of the recent flattening and repositioning along the curve," said Mike Lorizio, head of Treasuries trading at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.

The two biggest U.S.-listed junk bond exchange-traded funds by assets rose from seven-month lows hit on Thursday. Still, they posted their biggest weekly loss in three months.

The yield spread between two-year and 10-year Treasuries widened to 74.0 basis points from a decade-tight level of 65.9 basis points on Thursday, Reuters data showed.

· The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on Friday and was set for its biggest weekly drop in a month as investor disappointment that implementation of part of a planned big U.S. tax overhaul may be delayed until 2019 put a brake on the currency’s recent rally.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.08 percent at 94.37. For the week, the index was down 0.6 percent, on pace for its worst performance since the week ending Oct. 13.

The greenback has also lost 0.5 percent against the Japanese yen this week.

• U.S. Senate Republicans unveiled a tax plan on Thursday that differed from the House of Representatives’ version on several fronts, including deductions for state and local taxes, and the estate tax.

• Unease among Republicans about a massive increase in the federal deficit could complicate passage of two tax-cut bills working their way through the U.S. Congress, endangering President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority.

• The New York Federal Reserve on Friday kept its view on U.S. gross domestic product growth for the fourth quarter near 3.2 percent given the dearth of economic data this week.

The regional central bank’s “Nowcast” model calculated the economy was expanding at an annualized pace of 3.15 percent in the fourth quarter, quicker than the 3.16 percent rate calculated a week earlier.

• The European Union told Britain on Friday to spell out what it will pay Brussels for when it leaves the bloc in 2019 or face more delay in talks on future trade ties that are vital for British business.

After negotiations in Brussels, the first in a month, Brexit Secretary David Davis said during a news conference with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier it was time for “political discussions” to break a deadlock that has left both sides frustrated about a lack of progress.

• Crude was down slightly on Friday as expectations that OPEC and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow.

Brent futures fell 41 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $63.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled down 43 cents at $56.74 per barrel.

Earlier in the week, Brent rose to $64.65, its highest since June 2015, and WTI hit $57.92, its highest since July 2015.

• U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had insulted him by calling him “old” and said he would never call Kim “short and fat.”

Reference: Reuters