Markets finished off the month of April down big amid a mixed first-quarter earnings season. For the month, the Nasdaq fell 15%, the S&P 500 fell 10.2% and the Dow fell 6.4%.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported first-quarter U.S. GDP fell 1.4%, well short of economists' expectations of 1% growth. Consumer spending was up 2.7% in the first quarter, but an 8.5% drop in defense spending and a record-high U.S. trade deficit in goods weighed on economic growth.
