The US economy rose at a pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter after four consecutive quarters of contraction, according to the "advance estimate" released by the Commerce Department Thursday.

The increase is better than economists' expectation of 3.3 percent, providing the strongest signal yet that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.

The growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located within US borders -- in the third quarter was mainly driven by a government stimulus package.

In the first two quarters of 2009, US real GDP decreased 6.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. In the third and fourth quarters of 2008, the economy contracted 2.7 percent and 5.4 percent.

The department said the increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, federal government spending and residential fixed investment.

Real personal consumption expenditures increased 3.4 percent in the third quarter, compared with a 0.9 percent decline in the second.

Consumer spending on durable goods -- items that can last more than three years -- soared at an annualized rate of 22.3 percent in the July-September period, the biggest rise since the end of 2001. The jump largely reflected car purchases driven by the government's Cash for Clunkers program, which offered a rebate of up to 4,500 dollars to buy new cars and trade in old gas guzzlers.

Exports of goods and services increased 14.7 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 4.1 percent in the second.

The change in real private inventories added 0.94 percentage point to the third-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 1.42 percentage points from the second-quarter change.

Federal government spending, which rose at a rate of 7.9 percent in the third quarter, also made a significant contribution to the economic turnaround.

The housing market also showed positive signs during the summer. Spending on housing projects surged at an annualized pace of 23.4 percent, the largest jump since 1986.

The Commerce Department said the third-quarter advance estimate was based on source data that were incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency.

The "second" estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on November 24.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2009)