GDP Rose 5.7 Percent

In the fourth quarter of 2009, factories cranked up their assembly lines to help maintain inventory, and the effort shows in new GDP numbers out Friday. Gross domestic product increased by 5.7 percent—the fastest rate of increase in six years and beating analysts' estimates. According to Bloomberg, manufacturers such as Intel Corp. are expected to continue leading the recovery as rising sales cause companies to restock. But even with the fourth quarter gains, the economy shrank 2.4 percent in 2009 in its worst performance since 1946. The rebound hasn't touched jobs yet either, with December's payrolls falling by 85,000 jobs compared to a 4,000 job gain in November.