It’s official now — Recession ended in U.S. Government’s first estimate showed third-quarter GDP rose at a higher-than-expected seasonally adjusted 3.5% annual rate in July through September. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast 3.2% GDP growth during the summer. The GDP rise was driven by consumer spending, which rose 3.4% in the third quarter, compared with a 0.9% drop in the April-to-June period. Consumer spending contributed 2.36 percentange points to GDP growth.

“The data is suggesting that the economy does have some strength behind it, and that growth itself is going to be on the higher end of expectations,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management.” That’s a good news. But, don’t be too hyped up about the GDP report. Some of the gains in GDP came thru excessive inventory liquidation by companies. That may not last. GDP is also boosted by the tax credit for first-time home buyers.

On the negative side, Job market is still lousy. Consumer confidence is going down. Consumers still have debt loads near record highs. All these may slow down the recovery. As always invest and/or trade wisely.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a measure of all goods and services produced in the economy. GDP decreased at a 0.7% annual rate from April through June, the Commerce Department said today, revising its earlier estimated 1.0% drop because business spending in the quarter wasn’t as weak as initially thought.

This is good compared to the GDP decline of 5.4% in fourth-quarter 2008 and 6.4% in first-quarter 2009. Economists think the economy expanded modestly from July through September.

All is not rosy today. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index on Wednesday fell to 46.1 in September rather than rising to the 52 that economists expected. This means that manufacturing industry is weaker than expected. This is why Dow fell down more than 100 points today. I view the market drops like these as opportunities to buy better stocks at better price.