Wall Street rallied on Thursday after the U.S. government posted a better-than-expected report on the economic growth.

The U.S. Commerce Department posted that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter after four consecutive quarterly declines, showing a sign that the worst recession since the 1930's has ended.

Consumer spending on durable goods 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.

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.

However, some economist worried that the recovery was mainly driven by the government's stimulus package and might not be sustainable when the stimulus policies fell off.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said its tally of newly laid- off workers seeking unemployment insurance fell by 1,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 530,000 last week. Analysts expected a steeper drop to 521,000. The reading indicated that the labor market remains weak even as the economy is recovering.

Energy companies and raw-material producers rose as crude oil and metals posted gains.

Motorola Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. climbed on better-than- estimated earnings.

The Dow Jones rose 199.81, or 2.05 percent, to 9,962.58. Broader indexes also went higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 23.48, or 2.25 percent, to 1,066.11 and the Nasdaq rose 37. 94, or 1.84 percent, to 2,089.42.