US markets little changed after Q4 growth downgrade

Wall Street stocks fell slightly in early trade Friday after a downward revision to fourth-quarter US economic growth came in less severe than expected.

Thirty minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 23.29 points (0.13 percent) at 18,191.13.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.07 (0.05 percent) at 2,109.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 3.45 (0.07 percent) at 4,984.44.

The official estimate of US growth in the October-December quarter was revised to 2.2 percent from the initial estimate of 2.6 percent. A sharper cut had been expected by markets.

After the third quarter's 5.0 percent pace, "the trend is probably somewhere in the middle -- at least 3 percent," said Jim O'Sullivan at High Frequency Economics.

Bank of America stumbled 1.7 percent to $15.77 after UBS cut its price target for the shares to $16 from $20.

Herbalife, the embattled direct marketer of nutrition supplements, fell 2.4 percent after a fourth-quarter report that showed strong profits but lower-than-expected revenues.

Clothing retailer The Gap surged 3.3 percent after the board of directors announced a dividend increase and added $1 billion to its share buyback program.

Gap, the owner of the Banana Republic and Old Navy brands, said its fourth-quarter earnings were up 10 percent from a year before, and slightly above forecasts.

The company forecast a fall in 2015 full-year earnings per share to $2.75-$2.80 compared with $2.87 in 2014, blaming challenging currency fluctuations and the impact of the three-months long West Coast ports strike that ended on Saturday.

Bond prices were lower. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.02 percent from 1.99 percent Thursday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.62 percent from 2.59 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.