The Commerce Department said Friday that gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent between October and December. That's up from 2.6 percent in the previous quarter, but below the 3.5 percent analysts had forecast.

Disappointing corporate news was also sending stocks lower. Ford Motor Co. lost 10 percent after its earnings fell short of Wall Street's projections. Amazon.com Inc. fell 7.5 percent after reporting that higher costs cut down its profit margins.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,977 in morning trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3, or 0.2 percent, to 1,297.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 27, or 1 percent, to 2,728. The index was not updated nearly an hour after the market opened due to technical problems.

Sara Lee Corp. fell 7 percent after announcing a plan to split into two companies. One, a food and retail business, will keep the Sara Lee name and also operate the Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farms businesses. The other, which has yet to be named, will hold the current company's beverages and baked goods lines. The company had considered selling the whole business but was unable to get a satisfactory price for it.