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U.S. stocks open mostly lower as economic growth cools

Xinhua, January 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Friday as the U.S. government announced the economy grew sharply lower in the final quarter of 2014.

The U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP), the main gauge of a country's economy, expanded at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, below market expectation, said the Commerce Department Friday.

The economy grew 5 percent in the third quarter and 4.6 percent in the second quarter after contracting in the first three months of the year. In whole 2014, the economy expanded 2.4 percent, compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2013.

The department said that the decelerated GDP growth in the fourth quarter mainly reflected an upturn in imports, a downturn in federal government spending and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment.

However, the consumer spending, accounting for more than two-third of U.S. economy activity, increased at a 4.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter, compared to 3.2 percent pace in the third quarter 2014.

Investors continued to pay attention on fourth-quarter earnings. Google reported consolidated revenue of 18.1 billion U.S. dollars, falling just shy of expectations. Still, shares rose 2.92 percent after the opening.

Amazon posted a better-than-expected profit in the fourth quarter. Shares jumped over ten percent in the early New York trading.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 55.04 points, or 0.32 percent, to 17,361.81. The S&P 500 shed 8.19 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,013.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 9.17 points, or 0.20 percent, to 4,692.58. Endi