The Commerce Department said US retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services rose 0.9 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core retail sales rising 0.4 percent last month.

In early trading, US 10-year note yields inched higher immediately after the data, but was down on the day at 2.891 percent from 2.911 percent late on Thursday.

On the short end of the curve, US 2-year yields also climbed after the report, but last traded modestly lower at 2.743 percent, compared with Thursday's 2.76 percent.