NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks finished lower Wednesday on news the US economy grew just 0.2 percent in the first quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.61 points (0.41 percent) to 18,035.53.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 7.91 (0.37 percent) to 2,106.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 31.78 (0.63 percent) to 5,023.64.
Stocks were in the red all day after first-quarter growth came in well below the 1.0 percent projected by analysts due in part to extremely harsh winter weather in some regions and the West Coast port strike.
Later Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve said the slower growth was due “in part” to transitory factors and that the economy should resume expanding at a “moderate pace.”
