5.7%

Promising, but not very.

A few qualifications on today’s Q4 GDP number [PDF]: First, it will almost certainly be adjusted down. Second, and more importantly, a huge portion of growth was due to inventory shifts, which are obviously not sustainable over the long-term. Here’s the key section:

Real final sales of domestic product — GDP less change in private inventories — increased 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of 1.5 percent in the third.

2.2% isn’t going to bring on boom times, but it’s better than 1.5%, so there’s that. Still, we’re not out of the woods yet.