Third quarter GDP...

...will be released this morning at 8:30 Eastern time. The consensus among experts is for a gain of between 2 and 4 percent. This would be the first positive number since the second quarter of 2008. Expect the White House to be all over the news, trumpeting a recovery, and the Republicans (and Fox) to be spinning it negatively somehow (where are the jobs?). In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't mean a whole lot. But Washington and the media will be buzzing about it all weekend, especially on the Sunday morning talk shows.