NEW YORK, March 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened mixed on Wednesday as Wall Street digested the newly-released economic growth data.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, above market consensus of 2.7 percent, according to the third estimate released by the Commerce Department Wednesday.

The upward revision in real GDP reflected upward revisions to personal consumption expenditures and private inventory investment, said the department.

U.S. real GDP increased 2.3 percent in 2017, much higher that the 1.5-percent growth in 2016.

In a separate report, the department reported that the international trade deficit in goods came in at 75.4 billion U.S. dollars in February, up 0.1 billion dollars from the January reading.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99.59 points, or 0.42 percent, to 23,957.30. The S&P 500 increased 6.93 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,619.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 12.64 points, or 0.18 percent, to 6,996.16.

U.S. stocks reversed early gains to end sharply lower on Tuesday as investors continued to assess the impacts of global trade tensions. Enditem