Stocks droop, but post a winning week

Stocks dropped slightly Friday after a three-day rally.

It was a quiet end to a winning week as Wall Street digested quarterly data that show China's economy grew at its slowest pace since 2009.

After a three-day rally that saw the Dow Jones industrial average jump nearly 350 points, or 2%, the blue chip stock gauge ended down 0.2%. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index slipped 0.1% and the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite finished down 0.2%.

Overnight, Beijing reported that first-quarter growth came in at 6.7%, which was inline with expectations but marked the world's second-largest economy's slowest pace of growth in seven years. Still, stocks in mainland China's Shanghai composite shrugged off the weaker growth, with shares falling just 0.13%. The major reason for the ho-hum response to more signs of softness in China is the fact that the numbers came in line with investor expectations and still fell between China's full-year estimate range of 6.5% to 7%.

The Dow is coming off a three-day winning streak, fueled in large part by major bank earnings that have come in less bad than expected. Up today is the first-quarter earnings report of Citigroup (C).

An old milestone is back in sight for the Dow, as it closed Thursday just 76 points shy of the 18,000 mark. The Dow last closed above 18,000 back in July.

Dow aims high, with 18,000 back in sight

Investors were also watching crude prices, as U.S. produced oil was trading nearly 2% in the red, down 79 cents a barrel to $40.71.

Stocks around the world were also sporting modest losses Friday. In Europe, the broad Stoxx Europe 600 index was off 0.4%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% and shares in Hong Kong were modestly lower.

Adam Shell on Twitter: @adamshell.