The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.26%) was down 27 points as of 11:35 a.m. EST. Intel (INTC -0.22%) was rising, while shares of fellow tech companies BlackBerry (BB -1.92%) and Facebook (META -1.26%) moved lower.
GDP disappoints
Perhaps weighing on the Dow Jones' was the Bureau of Economic Analysis' report this morning that U.S. GDP rose 2.6% last quarter, a bit less than the 2.7% gain that economists surveyed by Bloomberg had anticipated.
As the broadest measure of economic activity, GDP is considered a notable indicator of the relative strength of the U.S. economy. While the miss wasn't particularly large, it still suggests the nation's economy may not be growing as fast as economists have figured.
Intel leading the Dow Jones higher
Intel shares jumped up nearly 0.4% in late morning, though there wasn't any particularly notable news on Thursday to explain the surge.
On Wednesday, Intel announced that it had expanded its manufacturing agreement with Altera in order for the companies to work jointly on "multi-die" chips. Intel also completed its acquisition of Basis Science, a small company that will help the chipmaker expand into the wearable devices space.
Facebook shares continue slump
Facebook shares, meanwhile, dropped another 1.4%. The sell-off is exacerbating what has already been a terrible run for Facebook shareholders: In just the last five trading sessions, the social media giant's shares are down more than 11%.
Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it had purchased Oculus, a company known for its Rift virtual reality headset. The deal, totaling $2 billion, was mostly comprised of Facebook shares.
BlackBerry drops on downgrade
BlackBerry shares were down more than 3% in early trading after Societe Generale downgraded the company's shares to sell from hold on Thursday.
BlackBerry is set to report earnings on Friday, and Soc Gen is urging investors to be cautious. Although new BlackBerry CEO John Chen has been working to turn around the struggling handset maker, Soc Gen doesn't expect an improvement anytime soon. With a $6 price target, Societe Generale believes BlackBerry shares have a downside risk of more than 30%.
