Markets Are Higher Despite The Horrific GDP Report
The Dow is up 9 points, the S&P 500 is up 2 points, and the Nasdaq is up 6 points.
First quarter GDP fell 2.9% against the Bureau of Economic Analysis' previous estimate of a 1% decline. Economists had been expecting a decline of 1.8%.
A revision in healthcare spending was the main culprit for the downward revision, with the healthcare sector going from adding 1.01% to GDP to subtraction 0.16% from the headline number.
It's a bad report, but with this data representing economic activity that is basically three months old, BI's Joe Weisenthal argues that we really shouldn't care about the bad report.
Durable goods orders for May were also released, and showed that orders fell 1% over the prior month against expectations for a flat reading.
In corporate news, Barnes & Noble announced plans to separate its retail and Nook businesses. Shares of the bookseller were up as much as 7% after the market open following the announcement.
Agricultural giant Monsanto reported earnings that beat expectations and announced a new $10 billion share repurchase program, and shares of the company gained as much as 6% following the news.