TREASURIES-Prices fall on retail sales, import inflation

(Updates prices, adds comments)

* Bond prices fall on surprisingly resilient retail sales

* Import prices highlight inflation threat to bonds

* "Ted" spread signals credit market strains lowest since August

By John Parry

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - Treasury debt prices fell on Tuesday after retail sales hinted that U.S. economic weakness might not be as pronounced as anticipated, while import prices underscored the persistent inflation threat to bonds.

A key gauge of money market strains and investors' risk aversion, the so-called "Ted spread" between 3-month dollar-denominated London interbank offered rates or Libor and 3-month U.S. Treasury bill yields, ebbed to its lowest levels since the global credit market crisis first exploded in August, which diminished Treasuries' safe haven appeal.

Bond investors took note of comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that underscored the U.S. central bank's determination to continue extraordinary liquidity measures to ease strains for financial institutions.

But the main market catalyst was economic data.