Morning briefing: Strong GDP growth in Eurozone, Germany, Hong Kong

1. The 16-country Eurozone economies expanded by a better-than-expected 1 percent during the second quarter while Germany expanded at its fastest pace since reunification.

2. East European economies grew faster than a year earlier on increasing demand for consumer goods in Western Europe. In the Czech Republic, the largest Eastern European country to report growth Friday, GDP rose 2.2 percent in the second quarter. In Hungary, the first EU member to get an International Monetary Fund bailout, GDP's grew 1 percent.

3. Hong Kong's economy expanded 6.5 percent unexpectedly in the second quarter.

4. The People's Bank of China set the daily reference rate for trading on the yuan at 6.8035 per dollar (0.27 percent lower than Thursday's close) triggering the currency's biggest weekly decline in 20 months.

5. The Japanese yen gained on the dollar as investors became less hopeful that the Bank of Japan may take measures to weaken the currency.