China news cools trading

NEW YORK - Industrial stocks stumbled yesterday after China said it would take more steps to keep its economy from growing too fast.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 45 points but had fallen as much as 160. Shares of three Dow stocks with extensive business overseas - Alcoa, Boeing, and General Electric - all fell more than 1 percent.

Regulators in China are trying to keep the nation's rapid economic growth from getting out of hand. But investors worry that a slowdown in China could disrupt a U.S. recovery by hurting exports and profits of companies that do business there.

Just the whiff of a slowdown in China was enough to batter shares of industrial companies and materials producers. That's because a slower-growing Chinese economy would mean weaker demand for industrial goods like metals and jet engines. Commodities prices also fell, which hurt companies that rely on oil, copper, and other basic materials to make money.

Stocks ended mixed, but the Dow and other major indexes posted gains for the week, their first after four losing weeks.

Concerns about debt problems in Greece as well as Portugal, Ireland, and Spain hurt stocks during the week. On Thursday, European Union leaders pledged to provide Greece with support. There has been worry that debt problems there could spread and destabilize Europe's common currency, the euro.

The Dow fell 45.05, or 0.4 percent, to 10,099.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 2.96, or 0.3 percent, to 1,075.51, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.12, or 0.3 percent, to 2,183.53.

U.S. markets are closed Monday for Presidents' Day.

The stronger dollar hurt commodity prices, which are priced in dollars and become more expensive for foreign buyers when the dollar rises.

Crude oil fell $1.15 to $74.13 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after four days of gains.

The concern about China mainly overshadowed a Commerce Department report that retail sales grew more than expected in January.