NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks reversed early gains to close lower on Wednesday, as investors digested the country's newly-released economic growth data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 380.83 points, or 1.50 percent, to 25,029.20. The S&P 500 decreased 30.45 points, or 1.11 percent, to 2,713.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 57.35 points, or 0.78 percent, to 7,273.01.
U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, in line with market consensus, according to the second estimate released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.2 percent.
U.S. real GDP increased 2.3 percent in 2017, which primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, nonresidential fixed investment, and exports, said the department.
On other economic news, after seeing a modest three-month rise in activity, pending home sales cooled considerably in January to their lowest level in over three years, according to the National Association of Realtors Wednesday.
The Pending Home Sales Index fell 4.7 percent to 104.6 in January from a downwardly revised 109.8 in December 2017, missing market expectations.
Meanwhile, investors were still sifting through the testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Powell said in his first monetary policy testimony on Tuesday that despite the stock market's recent volatility, Fed governors still plan on hiking rates multiple times throughout 2018.
The new chair signaled the central bank could hike rates more than three times this year should economic and inflation data continue to prove healthy.
