Wall St. ends down on economic data; February strong

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday as data showed U.S. economic growth slowed more sharply than initially thought in the fourth quarter, but the S&P 500 posted its best monthly performance since October 2011.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 81.33 points, or 0.45 percent, to 18,133.09, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 6.25 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,104.49 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 24.36 points, or 0.49 percent, to 4,963.53.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski)