Economy Grows at 2.5 Percent in Third Quarter
Excerpts by Jim Puzzanghera from RIS Media
The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession.
“We’re inching our way forward,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.
The new data from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed slow but steady improvement in the economy throughout 2011.
Things were looking only slightly better in the summer, when the government estimated that the economy grew at an anemic 1 percent rate in the second quarter.
That reading in August, combined with continued poor job creation and the historic downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s after the bitter debt-ceiling debate, led economists to warn the nation was in danger of slipping into a second recession a little more than two years after the last one ended.
But last month the government revised second-quarter economic growth up to 1.3 percent. And increased consumer spending and other data began pointing away from another downturn.
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See full article featured in RIS Media, "Recession Fears Eased: Economy Grows at 2.5 Percent in Third Quarter"
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