The American economy rose at a revised 3.3% annual rate in the second quarter, up from an earlier estimate of 3.1% according to the U.S. the Commerce Department.

However, the positive GDP report is tempered by the inclusion of military spending, and Wall Street futures traders have not reacted much to the news.

Mitigating the positive effect of the GDP news is another report from the U.S. that after-tax corporate profits dropped by 5% in the second quarter. That’s the worst quarterly showing since a 6.5% decline in the fourth quarter of 2001. Investors will be looking to the job report, due next week, for better affirmation of economic health.

Although there are no major economic releases out of Canada today, Statistics Canada reports that national net worth stood at $3.9 trillion or $129,000 per capita by the end of the second quarter. The gain in is tied to slower growth in net foreign debt, StatsCan says.

National net worth advanced at a faster pace (+1.3%) in the second quarter, the result of a smaller increase in Canada’s net foreign liability (what Canadians owe to non-residents less what they owe to us). The rise in net foreign debt was again related to the appreciation of the Canadian dollar, which had a larger impact on Canada’s foreign currency-denominated assets than on foreign currency-denominated liabilities.

Overseas, Japan’s stock market recovered from yesterday’s earthquake. The Nikkei average closed with a gain of 8.40 points at 10,318.44. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index edged up 3.63 points to 11,290.15.

In London, at midday, the FTSE index is down 1.2% early in the afternoon, shedding 48.8 points to 4,153.4. Frankfurt’s DAX is down 1%. The Paris CAC40 has declined 1.2%.

In business news, Research In Motion, said that rising sales of its BlackBerry devices produced a profit of US$2.1 million in the quarter ended Aug. 30. RIM’s revenues were up 70% from a year earlier, to US$125.7 million.

The markets closed yesterday’s trading on a down note. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 88.97 points to 7,513.37.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 81.55 to 9,343.96. The Nasdaq composite index lost 26.46 points to 1,817.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 slid 6.11 to 1,003.27.