US stocks fall on poor 1Q growth

New York - Wall Street stocks finished lower on Wednesday on news the US economy grew just 0.2% in the first quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.61 points (0.41%) to 18 035.53.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 7.91 (0.37%) to 2 106.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 31.78 (0.63%) to 5 023.64.

Stocks were in the red all day after first quarter growth came in well below the 1.0% projected by analysts due in part to extremely harsh winter weather in some regions and the West Coast port strike.

Later Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve said the slower growth was due "in part" to transitory factors and that the economy should resume expanding at a "moderate pace."

That suggested the Fed still expects to begin a slow series of rate rises in the coming months, though not likely in June as many analysts had been expecting until recently.

Twitter fell another 8.9% after Tuesday's 18.2% loss, which followed the company's report that as first-quarter revenues came in at $436m, $20m below expectations.

Cloud-computing company Salesforce bolted 11.6% higher on a Bloomberg report that it was working with bankers to field bids after being approached by a potential acquirer.

Wynn Resorts sank 16.6% after reporting a first quarter loss of $44.6m and announcing it would slash its dividend from $1.50 per share to 50 cents per share.

Both Delta Air Lines and United Continental fell 2.5% on higher oil prices.

Food company Mondelez International gained 5.2% as first quarter earnings nearly doubled to $324m from $163m in the year-ago period, despite the drag of the strong dollar.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide vaulted 8.3% higher after announcing it hired investment bank Lazard to undertake a strategic review of the company to enhance shareholder value. The move sparked speculation that Starwood, which owns the Westin hotel chain, could be acquired.

Perrigo, which manufactures Sudafed and other over-the-counter drugs, fell 0.9% after opposing the latest buyout offer from Mylan. Mylan, which is also fighting an unsolicited offer from Teva, rose 2.5%. Teva gained 1.3%.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.04% from 2.00% on Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.76% from 2.70%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.