The Dow is down 115 today due to a so-called report showing GDP contracted 0.7% annualized as opposed to a previous estimate of 0.2% growth.  The only problem with this report is that it's wrong!  It was actually reported at the beginning of April that the forecast of a +0.1% increase in Q1 GDP was in fact a minus 0.6% so investors rightfully should have already had that factored in, thus making today's big sell off somewhat inexplicable.  Adding to the confusion was our own Treasury Secretary issuing dire warnings that Greece may very well pull out of the EU, even though all prior reporting has been quite emphatic that this almost certainly will not happen.  Greece's own polling data about a month ago showed an overwhelming 80% approval rating for staying in the EU.  The only real challenge with Greece is for the ECB to find a way to get Athens' new leftist government to go back on a few campaign promises without losing face.  And that is what they have been and will continue to do.  We've heard much talk lately about "irrational exuberance" but the real problem is that the market has actually been freely swinging back and forth between irrational exuberance and irrational panic, today being an example of the latter.  Today's sell off was on quite brisk trading of 7 billion shares.

Markets | Fri May 29, 2015 6:55pm EDT

Wall St. ends down after weak economic data but gains in May

BY CAROLINE VALETKEVITCH

DJ:     18,010.68  -115.44     NAS:   5,070.03  -27.95       S&P:  2,107.39  -13.40

(Reuters) U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday as data showed the economy contracted in the first quarter but indexes still posted gains for the month.

Transportation shares also weighed on the market, extending recent losses. The Dow Jones transportation average .DJT fell 0.8 percent, putting it just shy of correction territory, almost 10 percent below its 2014 high.

Data showed the U.S. economy contracted at a 0.7 percent annual rate in the quarter, a sharp turnaround from the earlier estimate of growth of 0.2 percent.

Weak reports on factory activity in the Midwest and consumer sentiment for May suggested that the growth pace was modest early in the second quarter.

"We had some weak numbers, but it's the end of the month for the trading of May, which can sometimes cause a selloff. It's also Friday and Greece worries are still in the marketplace," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew repeated warnings on Friday not to minimize the global stability risk of Greece sliding out of the euro zone.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 115.44 points, or 0.64 percent, to 18,010.68, theS&P 500 .SPX lost 13.4 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,107.39 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC dropped 27.95 points, or 0.55 percent, to 5,070.03.

For the month, the Dow was up 1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.1 percent and the Nasdaqgained 2.6 percent.

For the week, stocks posted losses, however. The Dow was down 1.2 percent, the S&P 500fell 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.4 percent.

Weighing on the market Friday, shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N) tumbled 6.6 percent, its biggest daily drop since 2012, following a company presentation at a cancer meeting. The stock had gained 8.5 percent this month before the presentation.

Humana (HUM.N) jumped 20.3 percent to a record high after a source said it is considering selling itself.

Intel (INTC.O) was up 1.3 percent to $34.46. People familiar with the matter said it has resumed talks to buy programmable-chip maker Altera Corp (ALTR.O) and is close to a $16 billion deal. Altera rose 4 percent to $48.85.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,097 to 945, for a 2.22-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,723 issues fell and 1,039 advanced for a 1.66-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and 7 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and 36 new lows.

About 7 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, above the 6.1 billion daily average for May, according to BATS Global Markets.