Economy returns to growth after a year of declines
On 9:51 am EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009
By Lucia Mutikani
Yahoo FinanceWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in a year, beating market expectations, as consumer spending and new home-building rebounded, signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years.
The Commerce Department, in its first estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday, said the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, after contracting 0.7 percent in the April-June period.
The growth pace in GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, was above market expectations for a 3.3 percent rate. The economy last grew in the second quarter of 2008.
Economy returns to growth after a year of declines
Not so fast. The recession is not over yet. Unemployment is climbing still. I don’t see this recession being over yet. I don’t think it will be over until 2010 at earliest. Even in the Great Depression, th GDP went up, while unemployment was high in the neighbor of 25%.