GDP Increases but Does Little to Spur U.S. Markets (CSTR, SNE, MWW)

The Department of Commerce released their National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 3rd quarter 2010 advance estimate today. According to the report, GDP increased at an annual rate of 2 percent from the second to the third quarter, which was a greater rate than the prior quarter and exceeded the expectations of some economists. You can read the full report here.

For the past few days, U.S. markets haven’t closed with aggressive gains or losses as midterm elections and the possibility of the Federal Reserve’s commencement of quantitative easing activities have been looming and today was no exception. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up just 4.61 points to 11,118.56 while the Nasdaq rose .04 points to 2,507.41. The S&P 500 dropped .52 points to 1,183.26.

Next week we’ll hear from the Federal Reserve and see the results of the mid-term elections. These two events will help investors decide on a definitive direction for the market next week.

European markets were fixed with Germany’s DAX rising .09 percent. Asian markets were down.

Stocks in the news: Coinstar Inc (NASDAQ: CSTR), Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE), Monster Worldwide Inc (NYSE: MWW).