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http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-economy-3rd-quarter-gdp-20131220,0,505943.story#axzz2oHnZP9Af

WASHINGTON -- U.S. economic growth in the third quarter was revised sharply higher, to a healthy annual rate of 4.1%, thanks to stronger consumer spending and nonresidential investment than previously thought.
Commerce Department officials had previously estimated that the nation's gross domestic product, or total value of goods and services produced, expanded 3.6% in the July-to-September period. The revised data released Friday indicate that last quarter's GDP growth rate was the fastest since the end of 2011, and importantly, that there was broader economic momentum heading into the final months of the year than believed.
The report shows that the GDP improvement in the third quarter, from a rate of 2.5% in the second quarter, wasn't just because of a big restocking of goods. A sizable buildup in inventory in one quarter usually leads to a drop in the next, and as such, isn't seen as a good indicator of underlying growth.