By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks opened near unchanged Wednesday after a report had U.S. economic growth unexpectedly shrinking in the final quarter of 2012, with the economy expanding 2.2% for the full year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.07% gained 4.46 points to 13,958.88 in morning trade.
The S&P 500 index SPX +0.14% added half a point to 1,508.26.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP +0.31% gained 6.13 points to 3,159.78.
Stock-index futures fell after the Commerce Department reported fourth-quarter gross domestic product dropped at a 0.1% annual rate, the worst performance since the second quarter of 2009, when the economy remained in recession. Read: U.S. economy shrinks in fourth quarter.
“For the first half of 2013, we do not envisage a very strong acceleration in economic growth,” Kathy Bostjancic, director for macroeconomic analysis at the Conference Board, said in a statement.
“However, there are reasons for hope in the second half of the year as the fiscal drag wanes and housing, which long created a drag on the economy, continues to turn from a headwind to a tailwind,” she added.
A separate report from a payrolls processor said private companies added 192,000 workers in January, with the better-than-expected rise coming ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for January.
The Federal Reserve is expected to release a policy statement Wednesday afternoon after a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Read: Fed to press ahead with bond buying.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
