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U.S. stocks fluctuate after upbeat GDP report

Xinhua, February 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded narrowly mixed around midday Friday, as the country's economic growth was revised up to 1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 16,696.40. The S&P 500 rose 3.19 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,954.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 13.37 points, or 0.29 percent, to 4,595.57.

According to the second estimate released Friday by the Commerce Department, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, beating market consensus of 0.4 percent.

In the previous estimate, the increase in real GDP for the fourth quarter of 2015 was 0.7 percent.

"The second print of Q4 GDP surprised to the upside, though the underlying picture of moderation at the end of last year remains unchanged. While consumer spending growth was slightly weaker than initially reported, overall consumption grew 3.1 percent in 2015, the strongest growth since 2005," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department announced that in January U.S. personal income increased 79.6 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.5 percent, and personal consumption expenditures increased 63 billion dollars, or 0.5 percent.

Oil prices continued to rise Friday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude jumping about 3 percent around midday, as strong U.S. gasoline demand and hopes of OPEC action boosted market sentiment.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks kept rising as Wall Street digested a batch of generally positive economic reports amid oil recovery. Endit