Wall Street Shrugs Off GDP Data, Opens Up Slightly

The markets opened up across the board this morning, possibly because the fourth-quarter 2008 decline in the nation's Gross Domestic Product was not as bad as economists had been expecting.

GDP shrank 3.8 percent, as consumers and businesses cut spending, but economists expected it to contract by as much as 5.4 percent. So, in a really perverse way, it's actually up 1.6 percent!

Which seems to be the line Wall Street is taking.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is up about 9 points, or well less than 1 percent.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each have their noses just above water, as well.

-- Frank Ahrens
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