1st Ld Writethru: Wall Street mixed after Q1 GDP, ends week higher
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E-mail Xinhua, April 27, 2013
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, dragged down by the country's lower-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, but wrapped up the week in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index edged up 11.75 points, or 0.08 percent, to 14,712.55 points. The Standard & Poor's 500- stock Index lost 2.92 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,582.24 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 10.73 points, or 0.33 percent, to 3,279.26 points.
For the week, the blue-chip Dow was up 1.13 percent and the broader S&P 500 advanced 1.74 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq rose 2.28 percent.
The real GDP for the world's largest economy increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday. The figure was better than an anemic 0.4- percent growth in the fourth-quarter of last year but fell well short of the consensus expectations of 3.0 percent.
Meanwhile, the U.S. consumer sentiment fell to a three-month low of 76.4 in April after climbing to a four-month high of 78.6 in March, as Americans grew more pessimistic about the economic outlook, the final reading released Friday by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan suggested.
In corporate news, Chevron rose 1.29 percent to 120.04 U.S. dollars after the oil & gas giant reported earnings that beat market expectations.
Shares of Amazon.com plunged 7.24 percent to 254.81 dollars one day after the online retailer reported a net income of 82 million dollars in the first quarter of the year, 37 percent lower from the same period of last year and provided a weak guidance.
Starbucks reported higher profit and revenue in its second fiscal quarter compared with that of last year, but its earnings guidance was below analysts' forecast. Shares of the world's biggest coffee chain dropped 0.83 percent to 60.00 dollars.
Boeing shares rose 1.29 percent to 92.85 dollars after the Japanese transport ministry said it would lift the grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliners Friday night after the jet has been forced to be grounded worldwide for more than three months due to battery problems.
The market rebounded this week due to generally upbeat corporate earnings and rising commodity prices after a biggest weekly loss this year in the previous week.
According to Thomson Reuters data, nearly half of the S&P 500 companies have reported their quarterly earnings so far, among which a little more than two-thirds of them reported earnings above analysts' expectations. Endi
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