Markets trade lower on weak U.S GDP data

The Toronto stock market was trading lower today, with nearly all sectors down in response to lower-than-expected U.S. GDP numbers.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped about 130 points, or one per cent of its value, to 12,198 late in the trading day on Friday afternoon.

The base metals sector saw the largest decline of 2.05 per cent following a strong week for the metals, mining and gold.

Oil was trading down 61 cents on the day at $93.03 a barrel in New York.

The loonie gained a little over a quarter of a cent to 98.31 cents US.

The drops followed reports from the U.S. government that its gross domestic product grew only 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year ? economists had expected a rate of as high as three per cent.

CIBC World Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld said deep public sector cuts were responsible for the slower pace. "While this wasn't a weak quarter, it wasn't the bang up start to the year we had hoped for, and the signals from March suggested that we will only decelerate from here into the spring trimester," Shenfeld said.

The New York Stock Exchange was also down about 35 points, or less than half a per cent, to 9,152, after several companies, including Amazon.com, released weak earnings. The online retailer reported net income declined in the first three months of the year even though revenue increased 22 per cent.

The NASDAQ fell about 18 points to 3271.68, while the the Dow Jones Industrial dipped slightly, dropping about seven points to 14,694.08.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/markets-trade-lower-weak-u-gdp-data-173854384.html

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