GDP Up

CNNMoney.com senior writer, Chris Isidore, wrote that "the U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster pace than originally thought during the last three months of 2009." According to a report by the Commerce Department, the nation's gross domestic product grew at a rate of 5.9% in the quarter, 0.2% higher than had been expected. This is the best improvement for the U.S. economy in more than six years, and some economists say that the recession ended sometime last summer. Although this positive increase in GDP is great, the GDP for the whole year still decreased by 2.4%. A major contributor to the growth in GDP was a 22% rise in exports, raising the net exports portion of the GDP equation, GDP=C + Ig + G + Xn.