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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stocks ended mostly lower Friday as jittery investors digested a weaker-than-expected economic growth report and as Europe’s debt crisis still loomed in the background.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dropped 74 points, or 0.6%, the SP 500 (SPX) slipped 2 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq (COMP) managed to gain ground, adding 11 points, or 0.4%.

The Nasdaq and SP 500 logged a fourth straight week of gains, but the day’s declines in the Dow put the blue chip index in negative territory for the week, down 0.5%.

Friday’s slump came as investors reacted to the government’s first reading on fourth-quarter gross domestic product. The United States economy picked up speed at the end of 2011, growing at an annual rate of 2.8%, as consumers increased their spending. But the data fell short of the 3.2% forecast, based on a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

While the worse-than-expected figure is disheartening, “the real disappointment is in the details” of the report, said Mark Chandler, global head of currency at Brown Brothers Harriman. Inventories rose during the quarter, accounting for a large part of the growth, but consumption growth, a measure of demand, was weak.

Investors had been hoping for news that would back up growing optimism about the nation’s economic recovery. Instead, the news seemed to jive with the Federal Reserve’s lower outlook for the economy.

The Fed announced Wednesday that it plans to keep the federal funds rate near zero until late 2014, because the recovery remains too slow to warrant higher interest rates any time soon.

Anxiety also continues to loom over Greece’s ongoing negotiations with private-sector creditors in an attempt to reduce its debt burden. Without an agreement, the country jeopardizes its access to bailout funds and might not be able to make a €14 billion debt payment that’s due March 20.

In addition, Fitch downgraded the sovereign debt ratings of five European countries, including Italy and Spain, which took the biggest hits.

Europe’s Debt Crisis

U.S. stocks ended in the red Thursday, as investors digested a mixed batch of corporate earnings results, and remained cautious amid lackluster economic data and the continuing debt talks in Greece.

Companies: Earnings reports were also weighing on the market on Friday.

Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) was the worst performing stock on the Dow. Shares sank 2.5% after the company posted its biggest drop in quarterly earnings in two years and widely missed Wall Street’s estimates.

Procter Gamble (PG, Fortune 500) was also a big decliner on the Dow. Shares of the maker of Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste and Pringles snacks fell after the company lowered its outlook for the year.

An 5.4% drop in shares of DeVry (DV) was a big factor in the SP 500′s slide. The for-profit educator’s earnings plunged 90% and undergraduate enrollment continued to decline.

Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) was a big loser on the Nasdaq. While the coffee chain beat forecasts with strong earnings and revenue in its fourth quarter, shares slipped as investors were underwhelmed by the company’s profit outlook for the future.

Ford (F, Fortune 500), aided by a one-time gain, posted 2011 profit of $20.2 billion — its biggest since 1998. But for the quarter alone, earnings missed forecasts, and shares tumbled.

On the flip side, shares of Newell Rubbermaid (NWL, Fortune 500) and Eastman Chemical (EMN, Fortune 500) were big winners on the SP 500 on the back of strong earnings.

Transocean (RIG) shares rose after a federal judge cleared the company of some damages related to the Deepwater Horizon spill, because it was shielded by a contract with well-owner BP. BP (BP) shares slumped.

Meanwhile, the Social Media ETF (SOCL) spiked 5% on news that Facebook is planning to file IPO registration papers next Wednesday, according to the The Wall Street Journal. Shares of social media companies LinkedIn (LNKD), Pandora (P), Groupon (GRPN) and Zynga (ZNGA) also popped following the report.

World markets: European stocks finished lower. Britain’s FTSE 100 (UKX) and France’s CAC 40 (CAC40) dropped about 1%, while the DAX (DAX) in Germany fell 0.2%.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong added 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei (N225) was flat. Shanghai wrapped up a week-long celebration for Chinese New Year.

Economy: The University of Michigan’s final installment of its January Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 75, up from an initial reading of 74. Economists were expecting the index to come in at 74.2.

Why Soros thinks the euro will survive

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil for March delivery edged down 14 cents to settle at $99.56 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery rose $5.50 to $1,732.20 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose slightly, pushing the yield down to 1.90% from 1.93% late Thursday.  

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_markets/~3/7dpwBFCR3xs/index.htm

The FDA is testing all foreign orange juice shipments.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it had detained orange juice shipments from Canada after they tested positive for low levels of a banned fungicide previously found in Brazilian juice.

The FDA announced earlier this month that it would begin testing foreign orange juice shipments for the presence of the fungicide carbendazim before allowing them to enter the country. On Friday, the agency said that among 80 shipments from around the world it tested so far, six from Canada and five from Brazil had tested positive.

The samples that have tested positive so far had carbendazim levels of between 10 and 52 parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency says carbendazim levels under 80 parts per billion do not raise safety concerns.

Twenty-nine other shipments have tested negative so far, and 15 of those have already been released. Some of these negative tests have come from Canadian and Brazilian shipments, while others came from Mexico, Costa Rica and other countries.

Results are still pending on the rest of the orange juice shipments, as well as on samples from domestic manufacturers.

Brazil accounted for roughly 56% of all U.S. orange juice imports in 2010, shipping over 171 million gallons to the U.S. Canada, by contrast, shipped just 1.6 million gallons, according to the Florida Department of Citrus.

Siobhan DeLancey, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said in a email that it is “hard to tell” when the current testing process will conclude.

“It really all depends on what comes in and what we find,” she said.

Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500), maker of Minute Maid and Simply Orange, alerted U.S. regulators last month to concerns regarding Brazilian orange juice after it found carbendazim in some of its own products as well as those of competitors.

Carbendazim is is legal in most parts of the world, including Canada, Brazil, Japan, and Europe. In the United States, however, the EPA has not approved its use as a fungicide, and under U.S. law, it’s considered an unlawful pesticide chemical residue.

Orange juice futures have shot up on concerns that supply will be constrained by the fungicide concerns, hitting $2.07 a pound for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange Friday. 

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_markets/~3/kB1NNSfRF3I/index.htm

Netflix’s stock is up more than 20% today, likely from a short squeeze. Click chart for more on NFLX.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Netflix is the highest flying stock on the SP 500 (SPX) Thursday, but was its fourth-quarter earnings report enough to justify a 22% run up in the stock?

The short answer: no.

The streaming video and DVD by mail firm is a heavily shorted stock. Roughly 22% of all Netflix (NFLX) buyers have shorted it, or borrowed the stock on a bet that its price will fall.

It’s not a surprise for a company’s stock to get a lift following strong earnings but in this case, the better-than-expected results pushed investors who borrowed the stock to sell it at a higher price for a loss, according to two traders who have been buying and selling the stock today.

Netflix starts to rebound from Qwikster blunder

“A lot of people don’t have the stomach to take the huge loss on the short,” said one trader who asked to remain anonymous because of regulatory concerns.

The phenomenon is known as a short squeeze. Investors rush to buy the stock before it heads higher because they must eventually return the shares they borrowed.

A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment.

The company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat expectations, despite a 13.5% drop in profit. Overall, Netflix surprised Wall Street adding customers in the fourth quarter and in turn growing sales by 47%.

Netflix’s stock dropped 60% during 2011, after a PR nightmare over its attempt to split its service and losing subscribers with a 60% price hike in July.

Richard Greenfield, a technology analyst with BTIG, said the number of hours that subscribers spent watching Netflix bodes well for the long-term staying power of the company.

Netflix said that subscribers watched roughly 2 billion hours of its content during the fourth quarter, its highest amount of record.

“More usage is driving down churn which is helping subscriber growth,” said Greenfield.

Nasdaq reports short interest on stocks twice monthly, so investors will have to wait until late January to find out whether more investors are betting on the stock to go down.  

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_markets/~3/A-DXA-lwlVA/index.htm