* U.S. two-year yield on track for largest weekly gain since April

* U.S. yield curve most inverted since March 12

* U.S. rate futures now pricing in one rate cut in 2024

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were mixed on Friday, with those on the short end marginally higher, after another report suggesting the U.S. economy is far from slowing down, meaning the Federal Reserve is likely to hold off cutting interest rates this year.

Volume is thinner than usual ahead of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.

On the front of the curve, the U.S. two-year yield, which reflects rate move expectations, inched up 1.5 basis points (bps)to 4.94%. Earlier in the session, it hit 4.959%, matching a three-week peak touched on Thursday.

On the week, two-year yields posted a 12.3 basis-point gain, on track for the largest weekly rise since the week of April 8.

Friday's data showed new orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods rose more than expected in April and shipments of these goods also increased, which indicated that business spending on equipment picked up early in the second quarter.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely-watched proxy for business spending plans, gained 0.3% last month after an upwardly revised 0.1% dip in March, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Friday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast these so-called capital goods orders edging up 0.1% after declining by a previously reported 0.2% in March.

Friday's numbers followed equally robust data on Thursday, which showed that U.S business activity accelerated to the highest level in more than two years in May and initial jobless claims dropped in the latest week as labor market tightness persisted.

In all likelihood, Thierry Albert Wizman, global FX and rates strategist, at Macquarie in New York said the Fed's dot plot, or its interest rate forecasts, in the medium to long term, to be released in June, will be higher, citing the central bank's minutes released earlier this week which said there are potentially inflationary factors within that time frame.

"What this means is that the market is getting a little bit worried that even though that we continue to expect that the Fed will cut, the extent of the easing cycle will not be that great," Wizman said.

"Maybe we'll get 75 or 100 basis points in cuts and then we'll kind of level off at 4%. And if that's the case and you believe that the yield curve will be upward sloping, then we're going to settle at a 10-year yield of slightly above 4%, or maybe 4.75% looks better or right in that context."

In other maturities, the benchmark U.S. 10-year yield advanced to a more than one-week peak of 4.502% and was last marginally up at 4.478. For the week, the 10-year yield gained 4.3 bps.

U.S. 30-year yields edged lower to 4.564%.

U.S. yields earlier slipped after data showed that 12-month inflation expectations fell to 3.3% from 3.5%, under the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. The five-year inflation outlook improved to 3.0% from 3.1% earlier this month.

The U.S. yield curve, meanwhile, increased its inversion on Friday. The spread between U.S. two- and -10 year yields, which historically has predicted the onset of recession, widened to as much as minus 48.9 bps, the most inverted since March 12, and was last at minus 48.3 bps.

Following the durables data and the University of Michigan survey, U.S. rate futures priced in one rate cut of 25 bps in 2024, possibly starting in September or November, according to LSEG's rate probability app. In the last few weeks, the futures market had been pricing in two cuts due to the weaker-than-expected economic data released before this week.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss Editing by Nick Zieminski and Sharon Singleton)