More Good Economic News

The U.S. economy is remaining strong, as new figures from the Commerce Department illustrate (pdf file). The first three months of 2006 saw the economy grow at a rate of 5.6%, the fastest rate in 2 1/2 years. That's up considerably from the final quarter of 2005, which was very negatively affected by hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. Expectations for hte second quarter of 2006 are between 2.5 and 3%.

Consumer spending was up 5.1% during the period, and business spending on equipment and software was up nearly 15%.