LONDON (AFX) - The euro fell back against the dollar triggered by the sharp upward revision in the US fourth-quarter GDP number, dealers said. The US economy expanded at a 1.4 pct annual rate in the fourth quarter, much faster than the previous estimate of a 0.2 pct growth rate, the Commerce Department said. This is the strongest quarterly growth rate since the fourth quarter 2000. The upward revision was higher than expected. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for fourth-quarter GDP to be revised upward to 1.1 pct annual growth. The economy contracted at a 1.3 pct rate in the third quarter. "The news helped the dollar," Nick Mertchev, economist at Haliafx said. The weekly jobless claims data was also encouraging with the four-week moving average for initial claims falling 3,000 to 373,250, the lowest level since Aug 11 2001. It suggests that the non-farm payrolls next week will be quite favourable, Mertchev said. At 1.46 pm, the euro was at 0.8638 usd from 0.8653 the news.