U.S. GDP Grows Just 1.3%

Japan's economy grew at a slower rate than previously thought in the fourth quarter of 2009, new data showed Thursday, raising fresh concerns over the country's recovery from a crushing recession.The world's number two economy expanded at a pace of 0.9 percent in October-December from the previous quarter, revised down from an initial estimate of 1.1 percent growth, the government said.And a revised figure for July-September showed a contraction of 0.1 percent, illustrating how Japan's nascent revival stalled in the third quarter.

U.S. stock futures retreated, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its biggest weekly decline this year, as investors awaited a report on employment in the world’s biggest economy. F5 Networks Inc. tumbled 16% in German trading after lowering its forecast for second-quarter revenue. Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc., the makers of communications equipment, declined more than 1.5%. Hanesbrands Inc. climbed 1.8% in late New York trading after saying it will start paying a quarterly dividend.

Revisions to some of the key indicators bring us back to the same old story-- the U.S. economy continues to grow, but at a slower rate than any of us would like. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released on Thursday a revised estimate that U.S. real GDP grew at a 2.7% annual rate in the third quarter, up from the initial estimate of 2%. So things are better than we thought? Not really.

Service firms that employ 90 percent of the U.S. work force expanded at a slightly slower pace in September than the previous month.