The most recent datapoint of significance for investors has to be the U.S. Federal Reserve's revised summary of economic projections.

The Fed now sees a stronger U.S. economy in 2011, with the world's largest and most technologically advanced economy expected to grow 3.4% to 3.9%, up from the 3.0% to 3.6% November projection.

The Fed also expects the U.S. economy to grow 3.5% to 4.4% in 2012 and 3.7% to 4.6% in 2013, compared to the November estimates of 3.6% to 4.5% and 3.5% to 4.6%, respectively.

The U.S. economic recovery is now proceeding at an anemic pace, a 1.6% GDP growth rate in the second quarter. And to top it off, certain analysts are arguing "the Fed is out of ammunition" and that means a double-dip recession is ahead.

Well, you can consider "betting" against the Fed, and assume even worse economic conditions are ahead, but before you do, contemplate the following:

• The Fed has already signaled that it's not likely to decrease the size of its balance until it sees sustained evidence of substantial GDP growth, and an increase inf capacity utilization. The calculation here is that the Fed is going to increase its balance sheet, including the purchase of long-term U.S. Treasuries, putting even more downward pressure on long-term interest rates.

Economists may be expecting the U.S. economy to slow in the fourth quarter, but don't look at the final, revised third-quarter GDP statistic for evidence of that.

In its final evaluation of U.S. Q3 macroeconomic performance, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday that the nation's economy grew at a 4.9% annualized rate, the fastest growth in four quarters, and unchanged from the previous Q3 estimate. In Q2, the economy grew at 3.8% annualized rate.

Economist Steve Affinito told BloggingStocks Thursday that although GDP held up reasonably well in Q3, he expects a decidedly lower statistic for Q4.

"In Q4, we should begin to see the weight of subprime mortgage defaults and reduced consumer confidence," Affinito said. "That will definitely produce a lower GDP stat, so no one should be deceived by the Q3 stat. The U.S economy is slowing. The question now is, by how much and how long will it take to rev-it-up again."

Affinito said he expects fourth quarter GDP growth to be 1.9-2.5%, adding that any fourth quarter GDP growth below 1.9% "would be troublesome -- a data point signaling a possible recession in 2008."

Just when one thinks the U.S. economy has slowed to a crawl, up pops the unexpected: growth.

The U.S. economy unexpectedly accelerated in Q3 to an annualized growth rate of 3.9% the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday. The report took most economists and Wall Street analysts by surprise: most had expected a 3.1%-3.4% Q3 annualized growth rate.

Further, the Q3 3.9% rate was the fastest growth rate since Q1 2006, when the economy grew at a 4.8% annualized rate. The economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.8% in Q2.

In addition, over the past 12 months the economy has grown at a 2.6% rate - - still below trend, but hardly anemic growth.

Surprising Q3 GDP Stat

"There's no way to slice it, other than to say it's a surprise," economist H. David Wang said in an interview with bloggingstocks.com. "Here the Fed [U.S. Federal Reserve] starts the second day of its interest rate meeting thinking the economy has slowed substantially, then they receive the Q3 data, which says it hasn't."