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The recession likely eased in the spring, with the U.S. economy no longer in free-fall. Many analysts predict that when the Commerce Department releases its first estimate of second-quarter activity Friday, it will say the economy shrank at a 1.5 percent pace from April though June. If they are correct, it would mark a vast improvement from the 5.9 percent annualized drop recorded over the prior six months – the weakest showing in 50 years.

Second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product figures are likely to be better than the first quarter, showing some signs of improvements in the economy, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said on Sunday.

China's government has turned its economy around far faster than most thought possible, as officials said Thursday that growth accelerated to 7.9% in the second quarter.

Oil prices hit a six-month high above $66, buoyed by falling US stockpiles and revised US first-quarter GDP figures.

The economy’s decline in the quarter was not quite as bad as the government originally believed, kindling hope that the economy could resume growing by the end of 2009.

The Indian economy expanded 5.8% from a year earlier in the January-March quarter with social spending and financial services the biggest growth drivers.

The government reported that gross domestic product shrank at a 6.1 percent annual rate, worse than economists expected, dampening hopes that the slowdown was easing.

President Barack Obama has set a goal of devoting 3% of gross domestic product to US science research.

Predictions have the major emerging markets—Brazil, Russia, India and China, a.k.a. the BRICs—overtaking the combined GDP of the G7 nations by 2027, nearly a decade sooner than the forecast in a landmark study a few years back.

Wall Street is down sharply lower as investors second-guess Citigroup Inc.'s plans to turn over a big piece of itself to the government.