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April 27, 2012

Stocks are flat on Wall Street; Amazon surges

From The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stocks are trading flat in the first half-hour of trading Friday as investors weigh big corporate profit gains against disappointing economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 16 points at 13,222 at 10 a.m. The Standard & Poor’s 500 edged up one point to 1,401. The Nasdaq composite rose two points to 3,053.

Amazon surged 16 percent after the online retailer reported a big increase in shipments. Merck & Co. was flat after reporting first-quarter profit jumped 67 percent on higher sales of asthma and diabetes drugs.

The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew at annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first three months of the year. Economists had expected it to grow 2.5 percent, according to a survey by FactSet, a financial data provider.

In Europe, gains were subdued after S&P downgraded Spain’s debt for the second time this year. Spain also reported another increase in its unemployment rate.

The yield on Spain’s benchmark 10-year bond rose 0.07 points to 5.86 percent.

Germany’s DAX rose 2.5 percent, France’s CAC-40 1.5 percent.

Procter & Gamble fell 3 percent after the consumer products giant reported a 16 percent profit slump for the first three months of the year on higher costs for raw materials and restructuring charges.

 

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