Closing Update: Stocks Finish Lower - Unable To Shed Disappointing Consumer Sentiment, Chinese GDP Data

4:13 PM, Apr 13, 2012 -- Stocks fell Friday, resuming declines for the third session this week following two days of robust gains on Wednesday and Thursday and dragging the major indices to their worst week so far in 2012.

Most sectors in the S&P 500 were lower today, led by falling financial issues. Energy and mining stocks also retreated, paring their losses somewhat in afternoon trade as commodity prices firmed, while consumer staple and discretionary stocks both posted moderate gains joined by utility stocks.

Stocks started lower today following disappointing Q1 GDP data coming out of China overnight and picked up steam early in the session after initial numbers for the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment declined in April to 75.7 from a 76.2 reading last month.

China's National Bureau of Statistics late last night said the nation's annual rate of economic growth slowed in Q1 to 8.1% from a 8.9% pace during the prior three months. Analysts had forecast an 8.4% advance while trade talk during yesterday's session suggested the world's second largest economy could have grown by as much as 9.0% during Q1. Rising borrowing costs for Spanish government debt also weighed on sentiment.

In company news, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) and Well Fargo (WFC) this morning, along with Google (GOOG) last night, all reported Q1 earnings that beat estimates but all finished lower today.

JPM posted a $1.31 per share profit, beating the Thomson Reuters analyst consensus of $1.18 a share. Revenues rose 6.3%. WFC reported a Q1 EPS of $0.75, $0.02 better than the mean analyst call. Revenue for the San Francisco-based bank was $21.6 billion, up 5.3% from year-ago levels.

Google (GOOG) fell today after the search-engine company announced a controversial proposal that would effectively implement a 2-for-1 split of its Class A stock while ensuring the company's co-founders and other insiders would maintain a solid grip on its voting stock. Q1 earnings were $10.08 per share, ex items, beating analyst expectations by $0.44 per share.
Net revenues rose 24.5% year over year to $8.14 billion, matching expectations.

Also late Friday, the chief executive of American International Group Inc. (AIG) said he U.S. Treasury Department could exit the company as soon as next year. "It will be Treasury's choice as to when they want to liquidate" their shares, AIG Chairman Steve Miller said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "But it is certainly within the realm of possibility that it could happen within the next 12 months." The U.S. government has held a majority stake in AIG since bailing out the once-troubled insurer during the 2008 financial crisis.

Oil and gold prices ended lower, with May NYMEX crude futures settling at 102.83 a barrel, down 81 cents. June gold fell $21.00 to finish at $1660.00 an ounce while May silver slid $1.11 to settle at $31.42 an ounce. May copper declined 10 cents, finishing at $3.62. May natural gas was essentially flat, ending at $1.981 per 1 million British thermal units.

Here's where the markets stand at end-of-day:

Dow Jones Industrial Average down 136.99 (-1.05%) to 12,849.59

S&P 500 down 17.31 (-1.25%) to 1,370.26

NASDAQ Composite Index down 44.22 (1.45%) to 3,011.33

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Nikkei 225 up 1.19%

Hang Seng Index up 1.84%

China Shanghai Composite Index up 0.35%

FTSE 100 down 1.03% to 5,651.79

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) CSTR, Guides FY12 EPS between $4.40 to $4.80. Street was at $4.09 a share.

(+) DOW, Company raises dividend 28% to $0.32 a share.

(+) ARCW, Buys Advanced Forming Technology and Quadrant Metals Technologies.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) COSI, Announces plans for rights offering for existing shareholders.

(-) DUCK, Reports Q4 EPS of $0.21, up $0.01 from year-ago. Revenues climb 1%.

(-) JADE, Delays Q4, FY11 earnings reports.