Channeling Stocks

[sludgehound]

Brits post best growth in 4 yrs
First of Europe in - beats est. with poss revise up. Interest rate rise may result considering retail sales hotted up.
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LONDON (AFP) - The British economy achieved its strongest growth for almost four years in the second quarter of 2004.

Britain's gross domestic product increased by 3.7 percent in the three months to June from the same period of the previous year, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2000, National Statistics said Friday.

The figure compared with year-on-year growth of 3.4 percent recorded in the first quarter of this year.

On a quarterly basis growth picked up to 0.9 percent in the three months to June from 0.7 percent in the previous quarter, National Statistics said.

Growth was driven notably by increased activity in factories, with production output showing quarterly growth of 0.9 percent, the strongest pace since the third quarter of 1999.

Services output continued to grow at the same rate as in the first quarter.