The US 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 Department of Commerce, in its first estimate of third-quarter GDP yesterday, 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 was above market expectations of 3.3 percent. The economy last grew in the second quarter of last year.
US stock index futures prices rose after the economic data. The dollar rose against the yen, and US government debt prices extended their decline on the better-than-expected report.
Recessions in the US are dated by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the private-sector group often takes months to make determinations. The economy slipped into recession at the end of 2007 and has been in the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The third-quarter recovery was generally broad-based, with solid gains in consumer spending, exports and home construction.
It was also driven by government programs like the popular discount on some new motor vehicle purchases, which stimulated auto sales and production, and a US$8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.
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