Bonds lower as investors digest ECB announcement, US data

U.S. government debt prices were lower on Friday as investors focused on the European Central Bank 's (ECB) surprise announcement on Thursday and digested key economic data.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury notes (U.S.:US10Y), which moves inversely to price, was higher at around 2.4611 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 3.1558 percent.

The ECB decided to continue with its quantitative easing (QE) program at the current monthly pace of 80 billion euros ($86.41 billion) until the end of March 2017. However, it announced it was extending the monetary stimulus for nine months at smaller monthly purchases.

In economic news, consumer sentiment for December hit its highest level since January 2015 and wholesale inventories for October showed a decline of 0.4 percent.

In oil markets, Brent crude (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1) traded at around $54.10 a barrel on Friday, up 0.39 percent, while U.S. crude (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) was around $51.41 a barrel, up 1.14 percent.

Oil prices sustained a second session of gains on Friday amid optimism that non-OPEC producers would be able to agree a production cut deal over the weekend.

More From CNBC

• Top News and Analysis
  

• Latest News Video
  

• Personal Finance