Here comes the final proof and that too straight from horse's mouth that the US economy is indeed out of recession. The US Treasury has approved a sale of 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C). The move is aimed to reduce its stake in the banking behemoth which at present exceeds 7.7 billion shares.

Going by the current market price of Citi stock, government's stake is worth more than US$7 billion. Although, it remains unclear if Treasury will be able to sell all its shares on this price.

Typically, with the announcements of such big stake sales, stock price of the concerned company goes for a dive and Citi is no exception here. The stock is currently trading at US$4.66 per share, down 4 percent amid heavy trading. Even though the shares are being sold in small quantities as opposed to an IPO or FPO where a large number of shareholders sell their shares simultaneously resulting in price dip, stock price of Citigroup has taken a beating.

The governemnt is in no mood to stop after selling this initial tranch of 1.5 billion shares and plans to sell more shares in incremental numbers. Yes, there are risks associated with the stock price movement, but if we take Citi's current market price, the value of Treasury's 7.7 billion shares work out to be close to US$36.2 billion.

In comparison to US$25 billion it invested in the company at the height of financial crisis, the Treasury is going ahead with the prospect of pocketing more than US$11 billion in profits. Clearly, the investment has paid-off handsomely with the Treasury department emerging as the biggest beneficiary after Citigroup.