U.S. Economy Grew at 2% Rate in 3rd Quarter

Still struggling to gain recovery momentum, the United States
economy grew at a fairly tepid 2 percent annual rate in the
third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday.



The report matched economists' expectations. Though the recovery
officially began in June 2009, growth since then has not been
consistently robust; the third-quarter reading was only a
slight improvement over the 1.7 percent pace in the second
quarter, and was not seen as strong enough to generate
significant numbers of new jobs to bring the unemployment
rate down. The report was the last major economic release
scheduled before the midterm elections next Tuesday.