US economy exits recession

The US economy has come out of recession, with annualised growth of 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009.

Official figures released today show GDP increased 3.5% over that past year in the world's largest economy, beating analyst expectations of a 3.3% rise. The US Government has welcomed the figures, but stressed it would take time for the economy to make a full recovery. Its economy had been in recession since the third quarter of 2008, when the full force of the financial crisis hit. On Wall Street, the main Dow Jones index climbed 0.77% to 9,837.73 shortly after the announcement. The UK is still in recession, according to official figures, with GDP down 0.4% in the third quart...