"For the U.S. economy, a developed economy, that's very respectable, slightly above average," said John Leer, chief economist at Morning Consult, a data research company. watch nowWhy it may be 'a chilly winter'That GDP expansion marks a rebound from a deceleration in both Q1 and Q2. Two consecutive quarters of negative growth meets the common definition of a recession — though the National Bureau of Economic Research, generally considered the arbiter of downturns, hasn't officially declared one. "Bottom Line: This may be the strongest and only positive print on GDP growth we see for a while," Swonk wrote. "We expect the economy to enter a mild recession in the first half of next year."

---