The bond market is holding steady at midday after getting a boost from this morning's economic data. February's

Producer Price Index

came in at -0.4%, lower than the 0.1% consensus. The core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, was unchanged.

That helped the long bond rise as much as 14/32, though lately the 30-year was up 12/32 to 95 25/32, yielding 5.54%. Since the PPI release, the market has been trading in a narrow range. Again, volume is light. Tracker

GovPX

reported volume down 35% as of noon EST when compared with the average first-quarter Friday.

"You still don't have a lot of conviction in the market for rates moving dramatically one way or another," said Mike Cloherty, senior market economist at

Credit Suisse First Boston

. "We expect some more chopping around in this range. The market is still trying to define the range a little better, and it's not going to be a nice smooth path for rates."

This morning's PPI report is something of a "giveback" from January's data. The finished foods index declined 1.4% in February, compared with a 1.6% increase the previous month. The index for finished energy goods fell 1% in February; in January it rose 1.8%.

Computer prices fell again, down 1.4% from January on an unadjusted basis, according to the

Labor Department

. Most other components of the index were flat, with the largest increase coming again from prescription drugs, up 0.8%.

The March PPI will likely show an increase based on rising oil prices.

OPEC

agreed in principle to cut production by 2 million barrels a day, officials announced today in the Hague. Details of the agreement need to be ironed out and formalized when OPEC meets on the 23rd. "Prices have risen sharply, but it's hard to say $15 a barrel is inflationary," said Cloherty.