The U.S. yield curve reached its steepest level in more than three weeks on Friday afternoon as President Donald Trump criticized the speed of the Federal Reserve's pace of interest rate hikes. The long end of the curve, which reflects sentiment about rising inflation and the health of the U.S. economy, moved higher while short-dated maturities held steady. The spread between the 5- and 30-year yield widened to a three-week high, while the spread between the 2- and 10-year yield was at a 10-day high. Trump is concerned the U.S. central bank will raise interest rates another two times this year, a White House official told CNBC. Earlier on Friday, Trump questioned the Fed's expected pace of hikes in posts on Twitter, saying it takes away from the United States' "big competitive edge" and could hurt the U.S. economy. Trump also criticized Fed policy in an interview on CNBC on Thursday. The prospect that Trump's comments will encourage Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to slow the pace of hikes this year pushed up yields on longer-dated Treasury bonds. The 30-year Treasury bond yield was up 6.6 basis points from Thursday's close to a session high of 3.03 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was as high as 2.90 percent, up 5 basis points from its last close. At the short end of the curve, the 2-year note yield increased by 1.2 basis points from Thursday's close at 2.60 percent. "We have above full employment, and if Trump is successful in getting the Fed to back off its rate hikes, that has the potential to create an overheating economy and rising inflation," said Mary Ann Hurley, vice president in fixed income at D.A. Davidson in Seattle. The spread between the 5- and 30-year Treasury yield rose by 4.9 basis points to a session high of 27.2 basis points on Friday, with the spread between 2- and 10-year yields up by as much as 5.5 basis points to 29.8. In spite of the curve steepening, the futures market implied traders' expectations the Federal Open Market Committee will raise rates at its Sept. 26 meeting were little moved, CME Group's FedWatch program showed. The probability of a fourth rate hike in December rose from 53.69 percent on Thursday to 55.59 percent on Friday. "We're almost at the point where we've priced in two hikes fully," said Bruno Braizinha, interest rates strategist at Societe Generale in New York. He said that may suggest that the curve had, before Thursday, flattened nearly as far as it could go absent economic news. No significant U.S. economic data was published on Friday. July 20 Friday 3:09PM New York / 1909 GMT Price US T BONDS SEP8 144-5/32 -1-4/32 10YR TNotes SEP8 120 -0-76/25 6 Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 1.94 1.9762 -0.018 Six-month bills 2.0925 2.1437 -0.005 Two-year note 99-208/256 2.5994 0.004 Three-year note 99-218/256 2.677 0.011 Five-year note 99-92/256 2.7645 0.024 Seven-year note 99-96/256 2.8498 0.040 10-year note 99-216/256 2.8931 0.046 30-year bond 101-212/256 3.0313 0.064 DOLLAR SWAP SPREADS Last (bps) Net Change (bps) U.S. 2-year dollar swap 23.00 0.50 spread U.S. 3-year dollar swap 20.50 0.25 spread U.S. 5-year dollar swap 14.25 0.00 spread U.S. 10-year dollar swap 6.00 -0.50 spread U.S. 30-year dollar swap -6.50 -1.50 spread (Reporting by Kate Duguid; Editing by Dan Grebler and Jonathan Oatis)