After four successive quarters of contraction, the US economy grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter from July to September this year, signaling the end of the recession. The growth is mainly attributed to the initiatives taken by the government to provide consumers with incentives on purchasing homes and cars.

The US economy, the largest in the world, expanded for the first time this year as shown by figures obtained from the Commerce Department. Household purchases went up by 3.4 percent, a two year high. After reports of the expansion came in, stocks were up and treasuries were on the decline.

The government will now focus on keeping the unemployment rate below 10 percent, while at the same time the policy makers at the Federal Reserve would try and keep the inflation under control.

530,000 jobless claims were filed last week according to the Labor Department, in a sign that the job market is still slow to rise even though the economy is picking up. President Barack Obama has said that although the recession is easing, the country is still a long way away from recovering fully and bringing down unemployment.

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