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NEW YORK — The stock market has ended a strong third quarter with trading that reflected investors’ mixed emotions about the economy.
The major indexes closed slightly lower after zigzagging through the day. Prices got a lift from the government’s latest reading on the gross domestic product, then plunged on news of a surprise drop in Midwestern manufacturing.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down as investors remained uneasy about economic data and shifted bets as the dollar strengthened.
The day’s slide-and-bounce performance was a fitting one for the end of the quarter. When bad news hits the market, reminding investors of the economy’s fragility, stocks slide. But within a few days, or even the same day, they start to recover as investors seem to grab hold of the fact that no one expects the recovery, or stocks, to have an unbroken path upward.
The slide that pulled the Dow down by more than 100 points in early trading began when the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index came in weaker than expected. Investors worried that the drop meant the national Institute for Supply Management index due today also would be weak.
Not all the news rattled investors. The Commerce Department said the gross domestic product, which is the broadest measure of the economy, slid at a pace of 0.7 percent, rather than 1 percent as it had projected.