'Beginning of the end' of recession: Obama

"Here is what's true: we have stopped the freefall. The market is up and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse," Obama said, while citing improving job and home sale numbers.

"So there is no doubt that things have gotten better. We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession."

Speaking at a town hall in North Carolina, where unemployment is around 10 per cent, Obama cautioned: "that's little comfort if you're one of the folks who lost their job and haven't found another."

He also questioned the cover of the current edition of Newsweek magazine, which pronounced that "The Recession is Over."

"I imagine that you might have found the news a little startling. I know I did," Obama said.

The United States is now losing jobs "at nearly half" the rate of when he took office in January, he added in mounting a defense of his plans to stimulate the economy.

New US home sales leapt 11 per cent in June, in a further sign of recovery for the sector at the epicentre of the global financial crisis, according to government data. Sales of new single-family homes also rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000.

In an attempt to prod the economy back to recovery, Obama signed a USD 787-billion stimulus package in February aimed at ending the worst US economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.