US Sees Fastest Growth In Seven Years

News just out shows that US GDP grew at 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009, that's the fastest growth in seven years, comfortably outstripping forecasts for growth of 4.7%, and much better than the 2.2% seen in Q3.

Makes the UK's growth of 0.1% look pretty paltry by comparison, doesn't it?

It's not all quite plain sailing though, the strong growth in the quarter was largely due to a notably slower rate of decline in inventories. Consumer spending was up 2% annually, but that is down from 2.9% in Q3.