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S&P 500

Stocks end mixed despite GDP growth surprise

Kim Hjelmgaard
USA TODAY
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Stocks ended mixed Tuesday as investors weighed falling consumer confidence against a better-than-expected report on economic growth.

Crude oil prices slipped 2.5% to $74.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished barely in the red, losing 3 points to 17,814.94.

Also negative was the S&P 500, which shed 0.1% to 2067.03. Gaining was the Nasdaq composite, up 0.1% to 4758.25.

An early rally sparked by an upward revision in third-quarter gross domestic product saw tech stocks surge and the S&P 500 hit a new intraday high.

But a drop in the Conference Board's consumer confidence index put a damper on the rally and stocks came off their highs.

In economic news:

• The government reported that the economy grew at an adjusted annual rate of 3.9% in the third quarter, much better than the initial estimate of 3.5%. Economists had expected the estimate to be revised down to 3.3%, according to Action Economics.

REVISED GDP:U.S. economy grew at 3.9% pace in Q3

• Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in November as the Conference Board's closely watched index dropped to 88.7 from 94.1 in October.

• The slowdown in home price gains continued in September as the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index of home prices rose 4.9% in September, compared with 5.6% in August.

Asian markets were mixed: Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% to 17,407.62 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.2% to 23,843.91.

European markets were higher as Germany's DAX index jumped 0.8%to 9861.21 and France's CAC 40 index gained 0.3% to 4382.31. Britain's FTSE index was up less than 0.1% to 6731.14.

"Global sentiment remains mildly positive on the back of last week's stimulus double play out of China and Europe," said Will Leys, a sales trader at CMC Markets.

The major event this week is a meeting of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna on Thursday as the price of oil continues to slump. Traders will be looking for a possible agreement to cut production to shore up prices. The price of crude has tumbled 26 percent since June as producers kept output stable while demand in Europe and other markets weakened.

The Dow and S&P 500 set new closing highs on Monday.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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