US close: Stocks drop on downward revisions to US GDP

US stock markets headed south in Friday’s session to close lower on the last trading day of the month following a downward revision to fourth-quarter GDP data.

Market participants spent the session assessing the outcome of economic growth in the US for the final quarter of 2014. As widely expected, the official estimate of US growth in the fourth quarter was revised to 2.2% from the initial estimate of 2.6%, given the slower rise in business inventory investment than previously estimated.

Economists at Barclays said that the compositional shifts in fourth quarter GDP growth were broadly in line with their expectation. “We maintain our outlook for GDP growth of 2.5% to 3.0% over the next several quarters,” added Barclays.

On Friday’s closing bell in Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 82.04 points or 0.45% at 18,132.38 while the S&P 500 was off by 6.26 points or 0.30% at 2,104.48. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 24.36 points or 0.49% to 4,963.53.

Leading the losses, American Express was the biggest faller on the DJIA, dropping as much as 2% after it announced that it was increasing the annual fee on some of its most popular charge cards.

Other data from the US were mixed. On the downside, the Chicago PMI reading was much worse than expected, at 45.8 in February against 58.4 in January, with the business barometer index dropping to its lowest level since July 2009. On the bright side however, the US pending home sales index increased 1.7% to a seasonally adjusted level of 104.2 in January from an upwardly revised reading of 102.5 in December.

Despite the weaker finish on Friday, stock indices closed the month of February at record highs, registering the best single-month performance since 2011. The S&P 500 climbed 5.5% in February. As such, volatility reduced during the course of February with the CBOE's VIX index falling 35% to close at 13.55 compared to its peak in January at 23.43.

S&P 500 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $141.12 +13.13%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $105.81 +6.82%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $7.90 +6.33%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $64.24 +5.29%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $30.43 +4.75%
Rowan Companies plc (RDC) $21.61 +4.45%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $41.60 +3.05%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $73.80 +2.94%
AES Corp. (AES) $12.97 +2.69%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $12.81 +2.56%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $25.08 -4.82%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $23.98 -3.19%
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $44.52 -3.05%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $16.68 -3.02%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $109.71 -2.64%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $49.54 -2.56%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $152.52 -2.25%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $26.73 -2.25%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $14.79 -2.12%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $47.13 -2.02%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.30 +1.98%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $161.94 +0.67%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.99 +0.39%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.56 +0.17%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $49.45 +0.16%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $83.93 +0.16%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $97.12 +0.13%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
American Express Co. (AXP) $81.59 -1.99%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $29.51 -1.34%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $189.79 -1.25%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $33.25 -1.19%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $82.90 -1.07%
Visa Inc. (V) $271.31 -0.89%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.32 -0.78%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $58.54 -0.71%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $121.91 -0.62%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $98.90 -0.61%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $141.12 +13.13%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $105.81 +6.82%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $64.24 +5.29%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $5.48 +4.78%
Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $124.71 +3.92%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $79.93 +2.41%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $16.76 +2.35%
Keurig Green Mountain Inc (GMCR) $127.58 +2.15%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $42.37 +1.29%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $74.66 +1.23%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Catamaran Corp (CTRX) $49.95 -2.78%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $75.04 -2.24%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $203.34 -1.86%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $78.97 -1.79%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $474.91 -1.68%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $91.75 -1.61%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $41.55 -1.56%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $195.46 -1.51%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $128.46 -1.50%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $180.37 -1.50%