Stocks Cap Losing Week With Pullback

Economy

Lingering worries about corporate profits turned an early gain by the Dow Jones industrial average into a third-straight loss Friday.

The Dow lost nearly 51 points to close at 8,796.08 as investors focused more on the profit outlook than economic reports showing strong gains in personal income and spending. For the week, the Dow was down 110 points.

In economic reports this week:

The gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, rose at a 3.7 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said, down from an earlier 3.9 percent estimate.

After-tax corporate profits in last year’s fourth quarter fell 2.3 percent after rising 4.2 percent during the third quarter.

Sales of existing homes soared 8.7 percent to a record high seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million in February, the National Association of Realtors said.