By Rex Nutting
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Coming out of the worst recession in generations, the U.S. economy grew at the fastest pace in six years during the fourth quarter of 2009, even as consumer spending and business investment remained tepid, according to data released Friday by the Commerce Department. Real gross domestic product increased at a 5.7% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the final three months of the year. About two-thirds of the growth came via the swing in inventories. The 5.7% increase was in line with the 5.4% gain expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Even with healthy growth in the second half of the year, the economy shrank 2.4% in 2009, the worst drop since the 10.9% decline in 1946.
