Better (But Still Not Good Enough)

The BEA announces:

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2010, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the "second" estimate released bythe Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

That's an acceleration from the 1.7% annual growth rate in the second quarter, and an improvement over the "advance" estimate of 2%.   Growth is still below average, and far below the pace necessary to close the output gap (i.e., get the economy back to some semblance of "full employment").  But at least the second derivative is positive....

Of the 2.5% growth, consumption accounted for 2%, investment for 1.5% (of which 1.3% was due to inventories), government purchases 0.8%, and net exports -1.8% (i.e., imports grew faster than exports).