U.S. GDP growth revised up to 3% in fourth-quarter

The U.S. economy grew 3% in the fourth quarter, faster than original
reading, the government reported Wednesday Increase in commercial
construction and consumer spending couple with lower imports
contributed to the higher growth.

The increase was the fastest in a year and a half, according to
revised Commerce Department data. Economists projected GDP growth
would be revised down to 2.7% from an initial reading of 2.8%.

Real final sales in the U.S., which exclude imports and inventories,
rose 1.1% instead of 0.9% as originally reported. Inventories, a major
source of fourth-quarter growth, totaled $54.3 billion instead of $56
billion as initially reported.

Inflation as measured by the consumer PCE index rose 1.2% in the
fourth quarter, or by 1.3% on a "core" basis if food and energy are
excluded.

Real disposable income climbed 1.4% in the fourth quarter, compared
with an earlier reading of 0.8%. The personal savings rate was 4.5%,
up from an initial estimate of 3.7%.

Facebook: the biggest internet IPO

With $5 billion initial public offering, Facebook would make it the biggest U.S. Internet IPO in history, topping the debut of its arch-rival Google Inc.

Facebook filed late Wednesday its much-anticipated IPO filing, setting the stage for what's expected to be the biggest public trading debut for an Internet company since 2004 when Google went public in a $1.7 billion IPO.

The social networking giant Facebook's IPO would also mark a high point in the rapidly growing social networking market, underscored last year by the public trading debuts of such players as LinkedIn (the professional networking site) and (Zynga Inc.) the social gaming company.

The IPO of Facebook also would rank among the top 10 biggest overall in U.S. history of U.S.-based companies. That list is led by Visa Inc., whose 2008 IPO was worth $17.9 billion, followed by General Motors in 2010 at $15.8 billion, AT&T Wireless Group in 2000 at $10.6 billion and Kraft  in 2001 at $8.7 billion, according to S&P Capital IQ.