The Commerce Department released its third and final revision of second quarter GDP this morning, and the revision was in a positive direction. The latest revision for second quarter GDP showed a decline of 0.7 percent on an annualized basis. That is down from a previously estimated decline of one percent. In the first quarter, GDP declined at a 6.4 percent rate.

The drop in GDP was the fourth in a row, marking the current recession as the longest since the government starting keeping quarterly statistics in 1947. And the 3.8 percent drop in GDP that started in the second quarter of 2008 is the worst since the Great Depression.

Despite this, the latest figures were better than the consensus estimate of a drop of 1.2 percent in GDP, and stock futures rose on the news. With today being the last day of September, it is likely that we will avoid the September slump that equities typically suffer from.

Commerce's latest report shows exactly how critical the stimulus has been in helping move the economy towards recovery. According to their latest revision, personal consumption dropped by 0.9 percent in the second quarter. However, that was partially offset by an 11.4 percent surge in spending by the federal government, in part due to stimulus funds being released.

Analysts said that the GDP numbers show that things are getting better, although the economy remains anemic. They expect the remainder of the stimulus and inventory replenishment to help the economy grow towards the end of the year. However, with job losses weighing on consumer's minds, it's likely that consumer spending will be very slow to recover.

While futures are pointing to a higher open for stocks, some are definitely going to do better than others. Nike has surged nearly seven percent in trading before the open after reporting better than expected quarterly profits. And American Superconductor is showing a double digit percentage gain after the maker of equipment for wind turbines inked a $100 million contract with China's biggest wind turbine supplier.