Stocks tumble on whiff of a slowdown in China

Industrial stocks stumbled Friday 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 points. 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.

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

The Dow fell 45.05 points, 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.

- AP