U.S. stocks end July with strongest gain in a year

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Concerns about growth led U.S. stocks to finish with a whimper on Friday and for the week but still failed to dent much of the market's strong gains in July. The government earlier reported a slowdown in second-quarter growth, though much of the impact on the market was curbed by other reports showing a slight improvement in consumer sentiment and in Chicago-area business activity. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.22 points to 10,465.94. The S&P 500 index rose 0.07 point, or 0.01%, to 1,101.60 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 3.01 points, or 0.1%, to 2,254.70. For the week, the Dow rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq was down 0.7%. For the month, the Dow still gained 7.1%, and both the S&P and Nasdaq rose 6.9%.

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