Stocks down as traders await Thursday's GDP number

Wall Street opened down this morning, as traders await Thursday's release of third-quarter GDP from the Fed.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is essentially flat.

The broader S&P 500 is down two-tenths of 1 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down three-tenths of 1 percent.

In a noteworthy move, this morning, Goldman Sachs downgraded its forecast for third-quarter GDP from 3 percent to 2.7 percent. Everyone expects that GDP is going to turn positive Thursday morning, signaling a technical end to the recession, which began in December 2007.

However, Goldman's forecast means the Street's top investment bank thinks the recovery is thinner than previously believed. This is something that Americans viscerally know, as they suffer under a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, and that shows up in flagging consumer confidence.

For a fuller examination of the weak recovery, click here to read Neil Irwin's story in today's Post.

-- Frank Ahrens
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