AlQa'dah 3, 1435, Aug 29, 2014, SPA -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday welcomed new evidence of stronger U.S. economic growth this spring, saying it shows that companies are investing and consumers are spending. "There are reasons to feel good about the direction we are heading," Obama told a White House news conference in an appearance in which he also addressed the conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine. The government said earlier Thursday the economy grew at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the April-June quarter, an upward revision from earlier estimates and a strong reversal from the first quarter of the year, when the economy shrank at a 2.1 percent annual rate. "Our economy actually grew at a stronger clip in the second quarter than we originally thought," the president told reporters, adding that he still wants to push Congress to take more action to support economic growth.