“There’s still some pockets of strength in the U.S. economy, so we should not get overly downbeat,” Thomas Costerg, a senior U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, said before the report. While growth prospects remain challenged, “the consumer is resilient -- that’s the good news.” Economists’ projections for GDP, the value of all goods and services produced, ranged from a 0.2 percent decline to a 1.7 percent increase. The Commerce Department’s estimate is the first of three for the quarter, with the other releases scheduled for February and March when more information becomes available. Last Year GDP ... (full story)