Wall Street on Friday closed with U.S. stocks remaining largely unchanged, though it did close its best month in a year. While the major indexes each posted 7 percent gains for the month, it came during low volume and followed a combined decline of nearly 14 percent for May and June. The month closed amidst the government's reporting that the U.S.' second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew at just 2.4 percent, rather than the anticipated 2.7 percent, disappointing investors. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.22 points, or 0.01 percent, to 10,465.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.05 points, or 0.00 percent, to 1,101.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 3.01 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,254.70. For the week, the Dow rose 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq dipped 0.7 percent. About 7.63 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, short of last year's estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 3 to 2, while on the Nasdaq, about five stocks rose for every four that fell. U.S. light crude oil for September delivery rose 59 cents to $78.95 a barrel. COMEX gold's December contract gained $12.70 to $1,183.90 per ounce.
