US economy races back to enjoy strongest growth since 2003

Published: 2:17PM GMT 29 Jan 2010

The world’s biggest economy chalked up annualised growth of 5.7pc in the
fourth quarter, beating the expectations of Wall Street analysts, and
marking its best performance since 2003.

However, the figures from the Commerce Department in Washington D.C. also
showed that the US economy contracted 2.4pc in 2009, its worst performance
since just after World War II.

The numbers revealed a sharp slowing of the inventory cutbacks that have been
forced on companies by a downturn that began in late 2007. A smaller drop in
inventories alone contributed 3.4 percentage points of the growth in the
quarter. Inventories declined at a much slower $33.5bn annual pace compared
with $139.2bn rate in the third quarter. The second quarter had seen inventories
fall at a record $160.2b pace in the second quarter.

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Shares fall after US banking plan

Asian investors have given the $1.5 trillion (£1.02 trillion) US bank bail-out plan a muted response, following sharp falls overnight on Wall Street.

Analysts says there is scepticism over whether the proposal will work, and worries over both a perceived lack of detail and the sums of money involved. Read more

HP’s profits exceed expectations

The world’s biggest PC maker, Hewlett-Packard (HP), has beaten forecasts by posting a better-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter.

HP said it made a $1.03 (£0.68) net profit per share excluding charges, 3% higher than the Wall Street analysts expected. Read more