U.S. stocks mixed after GDP reading; Dow Jones down 0.10%

Investing.com - U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday, as market sentiment weakened after revised data showed that the U.S. economy grew at a slower rate than initially estimated in the third quarter.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.10%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.05%, while the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 0.17%.

The Commerce Department’s second estimate of third quarter gross domestic product showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2%, down from a previous estimate of 2.5%.

Earlier in the day, ratings agencies indicated that the failure of a U.S. congressional committee to agree on a package of measures to slash the country’s deficit was unlikely to result in immediate downgrades on the U.S. credit rating.

The financial sector was broadly higher, led by Bank of America whose shares jumped 1.09% after U.S. regulators informed the bank’s board that the company could face public enforcement action if they are not satisfied with recent steps taken to strengthen the bank.

Citigroup saw shares climb 1.04%, while Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan advanced 0.39% and 0.20% respectively.

Elsewhere, Google was up 0.51% as the company was in last-stage talks with Samsung Electronics to roll out its Google TVs.

On the downside, Hewlett-Packard saw shares plummet 4.77% after the tech giant reported that profit tumbled nearly 91% on weak computer sales.

Also in company news, Campbell Soup dropped 1.84% despite posting higher-than-expected earnings and reaffirmed its forecast for the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, Netflix plunged 5.14% after saying it raised USD400 million by selling convertible debt to long-time backer Technology Crossover Ventures and stock to funds managed by T. Rowe Price.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 declined 0.22%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.20%, Germany's DAX fell 0.24%, while Britain's FTSE 100 posted a 0.54% increase.

Concerns over the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis remained in focus after Spain’s Treasury sold EUR2.98 billion in three and six-month bonds in an auction earlier. Yields for the six-month bills rose to 5.2% from 3.3% at a similar auction in October.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 0.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shed 0.4%.

Later in the day, the U.S. Federal Reserve was to publish the minutes of its November policy meeting, later Tuesday.