Minutes into the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24.18 points (0.20 percent) at 12,370.48.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 0.74 points (0.06 percent) to 1,319.73, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was nearly even, adding a bare 0.25 points (0.01 percent) to 2,761.63.

Commerce Department data released Thursday confirmed an earlier estimate that the economy only grew at a 1.8 percent rate in the January-march quarter, when economists had expected an upward revision to 2.0 percent.

New claims for unemployment insurance stayed remained above the 400,000 threshold since early April.

And the data showed collective after-tax profits for US businesses fell $11.6 billion in the first quarter, suggesting rising costs and less gains in productivity.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011