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The Treasury Department saw hopeful signs in Friday’s employment figures, which showed a loss of 20,000 jobs in the month of January but an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate.

The department’s chief economist Alan Krueger said that while the overall job market is still weak, there are hopeful signs that it is stabilizing.

With employment in the construction industry showing a notable decrease, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing an unexpected drop in total employment in the month of January. At the same time, the report also showed a surprise drop in the unemployment rate. The report showed that the unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January from 10.0 percent in December.

U.K. output prices accelerated at the fastest pace since December 2008, adding to existing concerns over the inflation outlook.

The International Monetary Fund sees strong growth prospects for the Indian economy in the long-term.

Friday, preliminary data released by the statistical agency ISTAT showed that Italian consumer prices rose 1.3% year-on-year in January. In December, inflation stood at 1%. The rate increased for the sixth month in a row and matched economists’ expectations.

The Bank of Spain said on Friday that the country’s reserve assets stood at EUR 20.05 billion in January, up from EUR 19.58 billion in the previous month.

Sweden recorded a budget surplus of SEK 19.8 billion in January, the country’s Debt Office announced on Friday. This was above the office’s expectations for a SEK 18 billion surplus.

Statistics Norway said on Friday that the country’s industrial turnover increased a seasonally adjusted 0.1% month-on-month in December, considerably slowing from the 3.5% gain in the previous month.

France’s budget deficit stood at EUR 137.99 billion in December, the Budget Ministry said on Friday. This compares to a budget deficit of EUR 56.27 billion recorded in the same month a year ago.

Statistics Austria announced on Friday that the country’s trade balance logged a surplus of EUR 205.54 million in November - the first surplus recorded in 2009. This compares to a EUR 460.34 million deficit a year ago.