The previous week showed that economic growth in the United States was revised to the upside for second quarter of this year, as the pace of increase reached its largest level since October-December quarter of the year 2011. According to the final revision from Bureau of Economic Analysis, country's GDP added 4.6% on a yearly basis, while earlier assumptions predicted a 4.2% advance. Also, U.S. unemployment fell below the 6% threshold for the first time since the Great Recession, adding to further evidence the job market has been enjoying the steadiest recovery in U.S. history. The jobless rate declined from 6.1% in August to 5.9%, the lowest level since July 2008, Labor Department said. This is due to the fact that hiring returned to a strong pace, as employers added 248,000 jobs in September, rebounding from a weak August. Meanwhile, consumer price index in Japan, the world's third largest economy, declined further in August, as year-on-year prices' increase reached 1.1%, not taking into account the rise in sales tax back in April of this year. The European Central Bank maintained its interest rates unchanged, while shifted its attention to asset-buying scheme, on which the bank has been pinning hopes to revive the flagging economy. Mario Draghi, ECB Governor, said that the ECB will begin purchasing covered bonds, which are backed by public sector loans or mortgages and asset-backed securities, which is aimed at flooding cash into the Euro zone economy, later this year. The asset-purchase programme will last at least two years, however, the size of it is still unknown.
The Euro fell to more than two-year lows against the Dollar on Friday after an upbeat U.S. jobs report boosted expectations for an early interest rate hike, while weak Euro zone data added to concerns over the economic outlook for the region. EUR/USD was down 1.22% to 1.2514, the weakest level since August 2012 in Frida's trade session. For the week, the pair dropped 1.26%. The Pound also experienced a bearish pressure amid positive U.S. data, with GBP/USD falling 1.08% to 1.5970 on Friday. For the week, the pair lost 1.66%.