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New York - US stocks sank on Friday, weighed down by an unexpectedly negative report on the country's economic growth and nervousness over the debt-ceiling battle in Washington.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.87 points (0.79%) to close at 12 143.24. It has now fallen for six consecutive trading days and lost more than 4% this past week - its worst trading week in a year.
The broader S&P 500 tumbled 8.39 points (0.65%) to 1 292.28, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 9.87 points (0.36%) to close at 2 756.38.
The Dow plunged more than 100 points in opening trade after the government reported that US gross domestic product grew just 1.3% in the second quarter, a much slower pace than economists had expected.
Notably, the government also slashed its estimate for first-quarter GDP growth from 1.9% to just 0.4%.
"The revision of Q1 was pretty stunning. Not a good overall number to finish the week on," said Marc Pado, chief US market strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald.
Stock markets later made up some ground but remained depressed as investors worried about the looming threat of a default by the US government or a downgrade of the US top-notch credit rating.
Only four days remain before a deadline set by the US Treasury for when it says it will stop being able to pay its bills unless Congress raises the government's $14.29 trillion borrowing limit.
Congress has been unable to reach a compromise as deeply divided Democrats and Republicans have struggled to bridge their differences over taxes and government spending.
