The U.S. economy shrank at a one percent pace between April and June, an indication that the worst of the recession may be over.
A preliminary report Friday from the Commerce Department on the gross domestic product is a massive improvement from the 6.4 percent decline over the first quarter of this year.
Gross domestic product is a measure of all goods and services produced in the United States and is the broadest indicator of economic activity.
The new report underscores President Barack Obama's comment Thursday that the U.S. economy is stabilizing, although he noted that job losses are a still "a huge problem."
Employers in the United States have cut 6.5 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, and the country's unemployment rate recently hit a 26-year-high of 9.5 percent.
Some information for this report was provided AP