By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks traded mostly lower
Wednesday after U.S. economic growth unexpectedly shrank in the
final quarter of 2012, with the economy expanding 2.2% for the full
year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) lost 20.97 points, or
0.1%, to 13,933.45 in morning trade.
Boeing Co. (BA) was among blue-chip gainers after the aircraft
maker reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall
Street's estimates.
The S&P 500 index (SPX) was down 2.89 points, or 0.2%, at
1,504.95, with its financial sector the worst performer and
telecommunications the best of its 10 major industry groups.
U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.
(RIMM) rallied as the Canadian company's chief executive readied to
show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system
Wednesday in New York.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) shed 3.07 points, or 0.1%, to
3,150.65, with the technology-laden index's losses lessened by a
sharp rise in shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) a day after the
online retailer reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter gross
profit margins.
For every five stocks advancing nine declined on the New York
Stock Exchange, where 139 million shares traded as of 10:25 a.m.
Eastern.
Stock-index futures fell after the Commerce Department reported
fourth-quarter gross domestic product dropped at a 0.1% annual
rate, the worst performance since the second quarter of 2009, when
the economy remained in recession.
"For the first half of 2013, we do not envisage a very strong
acceleration in economic growth," Kathy Bostjancic, director for
macroeconomic analysis at the Conference Board, said in a
statement.
"However, there are reasons for hope in the second half of the
year as the fiscal drag wanes and housing, which long created a
drag on the economy, continues to turn from a headwind to a
tailwind," she added.
A separate report from a payrolls processor said private
companies added 192,000 workers in January, with the
better-than-expected rise coming ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls
report for January.
The Federal Reserve is expected to release a policy statement
Wednesday afternoon after a two-day meeting of the Federal Open
Market Committee.
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