Fourth-Quarter GDP Jumps 3.5%; Full-Year Growth Was 3.4%

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The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, the strongest since last year’s first quarter.The gross domestic product growth rate for all of 2006 was 3.4%, up from 3.2% in 2005, Commerce said.The rate topped the 3% level predicted by analysts, Bloomberg reported. Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of GDP, expanded at a 4.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, compared 2.8% in the third quarter. The fourth-quarter GDP rate will be revised in each of the next two months.