 The IMF states that the policies also contributed to the improvements in market confidence and the bottoming-out of the recession in the G7 economies in the second half of 2009.Economist Martin Feldstein argues that QE2 led to a rise in the stock market in the second half of 2010, which in turn contributed to increasing consumption and the strong performance of the US economy in late 2010.Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan calculated that as of July 2012, there was "very little impact on the economy".