Investing.com - The euro tumbled over 1% to fresh two-year lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as strong U.S. economic reports sent the greenback broadly higher and as disappointing service sector reports from the euro zone weighed on the single currency.
EUR/USD hit 1.2511 during U.S. morning trade, the pair's lowest since August 2012; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2515, tumbling 1.21%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2132 and resistance at 1.2675, the session high.
The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to 58.6 in September from a reading of 59.6 in August. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 58.5 last month.
Earlier Friday, the Department of Labor said the U.S. economy added 248,000 jobs in September, more than the expected 215,000 increase. The number of jobs created in August was revised to 180,000 from a previous estimate of 142,000.
In addition, the U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 5.9% last month, from 6.1% in August. Analysts had expected the rate to remain unchanged.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $40.10 billion in August from $40.30 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of $40.60 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to $40.90 billion in August.
The euro shrugged off data showing that euro zone retail sales rose 1.2% in August, beating expectations for an uptick of 0.1%, after 0.4% fall in July.
Year-on-year, retail sales increased by 1.9% in August, more than the expected 0.5% rise. July's figure was revised to a 0.5% gain from a previously estimated 0.8% rise.
Earlier Friday, Markit said the euro zone services PMI ticked down to 52.4 in September from 52.8 the previous month, confounding expectations for the index to remain unchanged.
Markit also reported that Germany's services PMI rose to 55.7 last month from a reading of 55.4 in August, while France's services PMI fell to 48.4 in September from 49.4 in August.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP edging down 0.17% to 0.7834.
Also Friday, Markit said the U.K. services PMI slipped to 58.7 in September from a reading of 60.5 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 59.1 last month.