Stocks ended lower on Friday after the nation’s gross domestic product grew slightly slower than expected and crude oil prices surged higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 64.64, or 0.6 percent, to 10,640.91. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 9.54, or 0.8 percent, at 1,234.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 13.61, or 0.6 percent, to 2,184.83. The major indexes finished the week mixed, ending four consecutive weeks of gains, but had big advances for the month.
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the government reported on Friday, just below the first quarter’s pace. Economists had expected GDP growth to come in at 3.5 percent. Nonetheless it marked the ninth straight quarter in which the GDP increased at a rate exceeding 3 percent, Commerce Department figures showed.
And fears about oil’s effect on the economy had oil prices topping $60 per barrel. A barrel of light crude settled at $60.57, up 63 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Among local movers, shares of Staar Surgical Co. soared 36.4 percent to $5.28 after the Monrovia-based ophthalmic devices maker said U.S. regulators found its experimental implant to correct nearsightedness was approvable, subject to satisfactory U.S. inspection of its manufacturing facilities. Staar said late on Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had given the approvable designation to the company’s Visian ICL implant, which is meant to correct myopia in adults.
Activision Inc. gained 7.3 percent to $20.35 after the Santa Monica-based video game publisher extended its licensing agreement with Marvel Enterprises . Activision will have the exclusive right to publish role-playing games that use characters from the Marvel Universe. The agreement covers games for consoles and PCs.
On the down side, shares of International Rectifier Corp. sank 14.5 percent to $47.05 after the El Segundo-based maker of chips to power electronic gear’s stock rating was downgraded to “neutral” from “buy” by analyst Thomas A. Thornhill III at UBS, one day after it posted a 16 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit. Thornhill wrote in a note to clients that the company faces pressure from higher commodity prices at a time when sales growth is slowing. And Smith Barney Citigroup cut the company’s rating to “hold” from “buy.”
Hot Topic Inc. lost 5.5 percent to $17.04 after the City of Industry-based mall retailer announced that it expects a profit of 2 cents to 4 cents a share in its second quarter that’s below the 8-cent average analyst estimate.
