U.S. Growth Cools on Trade Drag as Business Spending Rises

``Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 1.9 percent annualized rate following the prior quarter's 3.5 percent gain that was the largest increase in two years, Commerce Department data showed Friday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 2.2 percent advance. Consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, climbed 2.5 percent, in line with projections... "The economy is continuing to chug along in the slow lane," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh''