Stocks End Mixed Despite GDP Surge

Updated from 4:09 p.m. EST

Stocks ended mixed in Thursday trading, as investors largely discounted figures showing gross domestic product surged in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 12 points, or 0.1%, at 9787, extending its winning streak to four sessions. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% to 1047, and the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.2% at 1933, ending three days of gains.

Volume was 1.62 billion trades on the New York Stock Exchange and 2.15 billion trades took place on the Nasdaq. Advancers and decliners were largely even on both indices.

During the session, all three major averages flirted with new 52-week highs, with the S&P, most notably, trading within points of its cycle high of 1053.72.

Jim Melcher, president and market strategist at Balestra Capital, said there's a good chance the Nasdaq will get back to its 52-week high of 1967 soon. But he said that is not as meaningful as if the Nasdaq were to regain its January 2002 level of 2059.

"There's a momentum in the market that would like to see the various indices punch though their 52-week highs and make them floors," said Jim Awad, president and market analyst at Awad Asset Management. "If they don't, there will be effects on the market as people watch and wait to see how the economy develops."

The advance GDP showed that the U.S. economy expanded by a 7.2% rate in the third quarter, well ahead of already heady expectations for 6% growth and up from 3.3% growth in the second quarter. Futures jumped higher after the release, leading to a strong open for cash proxies.

Awad said some investors might think the GDP growth rate is unsustainable, a cause for the muted response from the overall market in Thursday trading. "There's the belief that we're going to ratchet down in growth in the first and second quarters," he said. He also referred to the market's proclivity to anticipate economic developments; Thursday's action suggested the strong growth was largely factored in to share prices already.