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Apple Inc. stoked fears of a market correction Wednesday as its surging stock price drove the Nasdaq to heights not seen since the end of the dot-com era more than a decade ago.

The tech-heavy composite index fell back after breaching 3,000 but remains on track to post its best February in 14 years. The Nasdaq briefly passed the 3,000 milestone a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed north of 13,000 for the first time since the start of the recession in 2008.

Apple, the Nasdaq

Businesses slashed spending on machinery and equipment in January after a tax break expired, pushing orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods down by the largest amount in three years.

Orders for durable goods fell 4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

A big reason for the decline was demand for so-called core capital goods, which are viewed as a good measure of business investment plans, tumbled 4.5 percent. That’s the biggest drop in a year.

Demand for core capital goods hit an all-time high in December. Companies rushed to take advantage of a tax break that expired at the end of last year.

A durable good is a product expected to last at least three years. They include everything from appliances and cars to heavy machinery and planes. Orders tend to fluctuate sharply from one month to the next. But the overall trend in orders has increased since the recession ended nearly three years ago.

In January, overall orders totaled $206.1 billion. That’s 38.6 above the low hit during the recession. Orders are still 16 percent below their peak hit in December 2007.

Even without that tax break, many analysts believe business investment will pick up and stay strong in 2012 as companies take advantage of stockpiles of cash to expand and modernize their production facilities payday loan lenders.

U.S. factories boosted output last month and December ended up being their best month of growth in five years. Strong auto sales and growing business investment in machinery and other equipment are keeping factories busy and helping the economy grow.

About 9 percent of the nation’s jobs are in manufacturing. But last year, factories added 13 percent of new jobs. And in January, about one-fifth of the 243,000 net jobs the economy created were in manufacturing.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year. Economists are looking for roughly the same level growth in the current quarter. And a forecasting panel of the National Association for Business Economics said Monday that the economy should grow 2.3 percent this year.

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Manufacturing probably accelerated for a fourth straight month in February, consumer confidence improved and Americans picked up the pace of spending a month earlier, economists said reports this week will show.

The Institute for Supply Management

Iraq’s al-Qaida branch has claimed responsibility for the wave of bombings and other attacks that killed dozens in Baghdad and across the country the day before.

The Islamic State of Iraq says it targeted security forces and government officials in “revenge for the elimination and torture campaigns that Sunni men and women face in the prisons of Baghdad and other cities.”

The daylong series of attacks in 12 cities across Iraq killed 55 and wounded 225 people. The al-Qaida claim was posted on militant websites late Thursday.

In the past two months since the American military pulled out of Iraq, al-Qaida and other Sunni militants have stepped up attacks on Shiites, raising concern of a new surge in sectarian violence.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) _ Bombs and deadly shootings relentlessly pounded Iraqis on Thursday, killing at least 55 people and wounding more than 225 in a widespread wave of violence the government called a “frantic attempt” by insurgents to prove the country will never be stable.

Cars burned, school desks were bloodied, bandaged victims lay in hospitals and pools of blood were left with the wounded on floors of bombed businesses after the daylong series of attacks in 12 cities across Iraq.

The assault demonstrated how vulnerable the country remains two months after the American military left and put the onus for protecting the public solely in the hands of Iraqi forces.

“There was no reason for this bomb. A primary school is here, students came to study and people came to work,” Karim Abbas woefully said in the town of Musayyib, where he saw a car bomb parked near an elementary school kill three people and wound 73. Most of the injured in the town, located about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Baghdad, were schoolchildren.

Other Iraqis, fed up with the continued violence, furiously blamed security forces for letting it happen.

“We want to know: What were the thousands of policemen and soldiers in Baghdad doing today while the terrorists were roaming the city and spreading violence?” said Ahmed al-Tamimi, who was working at an Education Ministry office a block away from a restaurant bombed in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad.

He described a hellish scene of human flesh and pools of blood at the restaurant, where another car bomb killed nine people and wounded 19.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, but car bombs are a hallmark of al-Qaida. The Iraqi Interior Ministry blamed al-Qaida insurgents for the violence.

“These attacks are part of frantic attempts by the terrorist groups to show that the security situation in Iraq will not ever be stable,” the ministry said in a statement. “These attacks are part of al-Qaida efforts to deliver a message to its supporters that al-Qaida is still operating inside Iraq, and it has the ability to launch strikes inside the capital or other cities and towns.”

Fifteen of the day’s 26 attacks targeted security forces on patrols, at checkpoints and around government and political offices. Six policemen were killed at their checkpoint in northern Baghdad in a pre-dawn drive-by shooting. A suicide bomber blew up his car in front of a police station in Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, killing two and wounding eight.

Such violence undermines the public’s confidence in the ability of their policemen and soldiers to protect everyday citizens, and discourages people from joining or helping the security forces.

All the casualties were reported by local police and hospital officials in the cities where the attacks took place. Most spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

A statement by the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya political party, the main opposition bloc to the Shiite-led government, called on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to accept full responsibility for protecting the public.

“If the government fails to do so, then it should resign and the parliament should choose a government capable of confronting the terrorists and impose security and stability in all over Iraq,” the statement said.

Even months before U.S. troops left, extremists launched large-scale attacks every few weeks. The violence now is nowhere as frequent as it was during the tit-for-tat sectarian fighting that almost pushed Iraq into civil war a few years ago. But the attacks appear to be more deadly than they were before American military’s withdrawal in late December.

Days after the American military left, a Dec. 22 wave of bombs targeting Shiites killed at least 69 people. That happened twice more over the following three weeks, killing 78 and 53, respectively. Al-Qaida was blamed for them all.

Until the U.S. troops left, the most sweeping attack of 2011 was in August in a multi-city bombing spree that killed 63.

The renewed potency of the violence points to a dangerous security gap that Iraqi forces have not yet solved without the help of the U.S. military: Gathering intelligence on militants plotting attacks.

Ongoing negotiations between the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government are addressing, in part, how to supply security forces with enough equipment and training to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

Turbulence in Iraq’s political system also has fueled sectarian tensions, but there’s no indication so far that it’s led to violence. The day after the U.S. withdrawal on Dec. 18, the Shiite-led government announced an arrest warrant against Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni politician, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, on charges he commandeered death squads against security forces and government officials.

Al-Hashemi has denied the charges he calls politically motivated, and many Iraqis fear the case will bring the return of widespread sectarian violence. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad alluded to that in a statement Thursday calling the terrorist attacks “heinous” acts that “tear at the fabric of Iraqi unity.” Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi condemned the attacks as an attempt “at igniting strife among Iraqi people.”

Yet in an encouraging sign that Iraq’s government is able to function, Parliament late Thursday approved the nation’s $100 billion operating budget for 2012.

Al-Nujaifi said Thursday’s blast likely sought to frighten diplomats from attending the Arab League’s annual summit, scheduled to be held in Baghdad in late March. The League meeting was canceled in Baghdad last year amid similar fears.

Douglas A. Ollivant, who oversaw Iraq policy at the National Security Council at the White House from 2008 to 2009, said that while security forces may not be able to stop al-Qaida, the violence has come nowhere close to pushing the nation back into war.

“Al-Qaida has been incredibly ineffective in its goal of renewing sectarian violence,” said Ollivant, now senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington. “Yes, Iraq has a terrorism problem and it needs to get better at dealing with it. But al-Qaida’s inability to get any traction on their larger strategy is demonstrating that the civil war in Iraq is decidedly over.”

But as the burning, charred cars that littered streets across the country showed Thursday, Iraq’s battle against terrorism and violence is far from over.

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The head of the European Central Bank said Greece’s compliance with its bailout agreement must be “flawless” for the financially struggling country to avoid worse trouble.

ECB head Mario Draghi said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “the key to controlling risks lies with the implementation of the program, which has to be flawless.”

Greece has agreed to reduce wages, cut spending and make its economy more business-friendly in return for a second, euro130 billion ($173 billion) bailout from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

The harsh cutbacks have drawn opposition in Greece, which is in a deep recession.

Draghi said it was crucial for any government to support the agreed program of reforms, even after elections that are expected in March.

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Barnes & Noble said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter net income fell 14 percent, as rising costs offset higher sales of both traditional books and digital books.

The company also said Tuesday that it is introducing a Nook Tablet device with 8 gigabytes of memory for $199. Its current 16GB device sells for $249. Barnes & Noble’s biggest e-book reader competitor, Amazon.com’s Kindle Fire, is also 8GB and sells for $199.

Barnes & Noble cut the price of its Nook Color device to $169 from $199. It has fewer tablet-like features than the Nook Tablet.

Revenue from its Nook e-readers and digital catalog rose 38 percent to $542 million. The figure includes the actual selling prices for e-books, rather than the commission received on selling them, and also includes all deferred e-reader device revenue.

Traditional book sales rose 4 percent. That could partly be due to the fact that it was the first holiday season it did not have to contend with competition from Borders, its chief rival that liquidated last year.

Barnes & Noble has been shifting store inventory away from books toward games and toys and other gift items. That strategy seems to be paying off.

Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 2.8 percent. The measure is a key indicator of a retailer’s financial health because it excludes stores that opened or closed during the year.

“In the third quarter, our traffic and sales in stores were the highest we’ve seen in five years,” said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch.

Net income for the 13 weeks ended Jan. 28 fell to $52 million, or 71 cents per share. That compares to a loss of $60.6 million or $1 per share last year. Excluding one-time times, net income totaled 99 cents per share. Analysts expected 94 cents per share.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $2.44 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $2.53 billion.

The company’s cost of sales rose nearly 12 percent and its selling and administrative expenses were up about 14 percent.

Barnes & Noble reaffirmed its guidance for the full year. The bookseller expects a yearly loss of $1.40 to $1.10 per share on total sales between $7 billion and $7.2 billion. Analysts expect a loss of $1.14 per share on revenue of $7.26 billion.

Barnes & Noble shares rose 50 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $13.61 in morning trading.

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U.S. stocks capped off a solid week on either side of the break even line Friday, as investors hesitated to make big bets ahead of a key vote on a second bailout for Greece.

The Dow Jones industrial average () rose 46 points, or 0.4%, closing at the highest level since May 2008. The S&P 500 () edged up 3 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq () lost 8 points, or 0.3%.

Investors are optimistic that European finance ministers will sign off on Greece’s latest economic reform proposal when they meet Monday. Their approval is needed in order for Greece to receive bailout funds and avoid default on a €14.5 billion bond redemption in March.

But until they receive official word, investors are taking a breather going into the long weekend and Monday’s big meeting.

"From an investor’s perspective, European leaders have over-promised and under-delivered over and over for the past several months," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group. "Until we see some signatures on a dotted line, there are still questions about Europe’s ability to contain its issues."

Greek bailout: The pressure is on

Friday’s muted moves came a day after the stocks gained more than 1%, with the Nasdaq closing at a decade high.

All three indexes posted solid gains for the week. The Dow rose 1.2%, while the S&P 500 added 1.4%. The Nasdaq jumped nearly 1.7%.

For the year, the Dow is up almost 6%, and the S&P 500 is up more than 8%. The Nasdaq has made an impressive 13% run.

"All the economic data recently has been pointing to a rebound in economic growth, which has propelled stocks higher," said Sheldon. "But the market might be getting ahead of itself from a sentiment perspective, so it may be due for a pause or a brief pullback."

Europe: Out of ICU but still ill

But as long as economic data continue to come in strong, and Europe continues to work toward a solution for its problems, the market should trend higher in the months ahead, said Sheldon.

Markets will be closed Monday for Presidents Day.

World markets: European stocks finished modestly higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 () added 0.3%, the DAX () in Germany rose 1.4% and France’s CAC 40 () gained 1.3%.

Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite () edged up slightly, the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong rose 1% and Japan’s Nikkei () popped 1.6%.

Economy: The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in January, after holding steady the two months prior. Analysts were expecting a rise of 0.3%.

Core inflation rose 0.2%, compared to estimates for 0.1% uptick.

The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Indicators index ticked up 0.4% in January, a bit less than forecasts for a 0.5% increase.

Companies: Shares of H.J. Heinz (, Fortune 500) moved higher after the company beat earnings estimates, thanks to growth in emerging markets.

Campbell Soup’s (, Fortune 500) stock also edged higher after the company’s second-quarter profit declined but still managed to beat forecasts.

Nordstrom (, Fortune 500) shares were lower after the retailer issued a disappointing profit forecast for the year.

Green Mountain Coffee’s new Vue

Baidu (), China’s top search engine, beat fourth-quarter earnings and sales estimates, but shares edged lower as the company issued a disappointing first-quarter revenue outlook.

Gilead Sciences (, Fortune 500) shares tumbled after the drugmaker said that the majority of patients involved in a hepatitis C treatment experienced a relapse within four weeks of completion.

Shares of Brightcove (), known for its Internet video platform, surged more than 35% in its stock market debut. The company’s shares were priced at $11 in its initial public offering, and soared above $15 on Friday.

McNeil, a Johnson & Johnson (, Fortune 500) company, is recalling more than half a million bottles of Infants’ Tylenol because of consumer complaints about the difficulties of using the dosing system.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar edged lower against the euro and the British pound, but rose versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for March delivery gained 93 cents to settle at nine-month high of $103.24 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery fell $2.50 to settle at $1,725.90 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 2.01% from 1.99% late Thursday.  

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Singapore intensified efforts to address the island

Fuel distributor Center Oil Co., one of the region’s largest private companies, unwittingly bought more than 1.3 million bogus renewable fuels credits in 2010, according to two lawsuits the company filed last month in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

The credits, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are tied to a much larger credit counterfeiting scandal wreaking havoc for biodiesel producers and petroleum companies across the country. The dustup has given new ammunition to critics of the six-year-old federal renewable fuel mandate.

Over the last four months, the federal government has identified two companies that allegedly sold millions of dollars worth of bogus credits. And the owner of one of the companies, Clean Green Fuels LLC of Baltimore, has been charged with selling $9 million of worthless fuel credits and spending the money on exotic sports cars, homes and jewelry.

The fallout from the scandal hasn’t been fully realized. But already it has meant increased scrutiny for biodiesel producers and an expensive headache for more than two dozen companies facing possible fines for buying the worthless credits, even if they did so unknowingly.

The federal Renewable Fuel Standard was approved by Congress in 2005 and expanded two years later to require even larger volumes of biodiesel and ethanol as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil, cut greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in rural America.

For 2012, the law requires the use of 15.2 billion gallons of renewable fuel, an amount that will steadily increase to 36 billion gallons by 2022.

Oil refiners and fuel importers can meet obligations either by blending biodiesel and ethanol with petroleum-based or purchasing the credits from producers of the renewable fuels.

The fuel credits, known as renewable identification numbers, or RINs, are 38-digit serial numbers that represent biodiesel and ethanol made in or imported to the United States. For biodiesel, each RIN represents 1.5 gallons.

Center Oil didn’t say in the lawsuits what consequences it might face for purchasing and re-selling the worthless biodiesel credits. The lawsuit doesn’t specify the amount of damages it’s seeking.

Company officials didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Center Oil filed the lawsuits on Jan. 20 and Jan. 24, accusing separate companies of breach of contract and breach of warranty for selling bogus RINs.

The suits claim Center Oil bought 943,000 phony RINs from Miami-based International Exchange Services LLC in April 2010 and 441,000 bogus RINs from OceanConnect LLC, based in White Plains, NY, six months later.

Both of the companies being sued were identified by federal prosecutors as having bought RINs from Clean Green Fuels.

It’s unknown how many companies and brokers unknowingly bought or sold some of the 80 million phony fuel credits so far identified by the EPA. Often, RINs are re-sold multiple times before they’re retired.

But the EPA has already issued notices to two dozen companies, including some of the country’s largest oil companies, warning them that they may have violated federal regulations for submitting worthless biodiesel credits.

Center Oil was not among those companies, and according to its lawsuit, it subsequently re-sold the credits.

Those who work in the biodiesel industry believe RIN fraud is rare. But the issue has nonetheless made oil companies and brokers more careful about whom they buy from.

And that has had the unfortunate effect of making it difficult for lesser-known small producers to sell their credits into a jittery market, said Wayne Lee, a biofuels consultant in Little Rock.

“It’s having a severely negative effect on the smaller producers,” he said payday loans lenders. “The vast majority of biodiesel producers are straight up, honest small plants doing what they’re supposed to be doing. These guys are trying to eke a living out of the ground.”

The National Biodiesel Board, an industry group based in Jefferson City, said it has long been aware for the potential for RIN fraud - a reason it long ago included a link on its home page to anonymously pass on tips about suspect RIN transactions to the EPA.

And at the group’s annual conference last week, it announced plans to form a task force made up of parties from the petroleum industry, biodiesel producers and the EPA to look at ways to strengthen the RIN program.

“There is significant disruption in our market right now because of these cases,” said Ben Evans, a spokesman for the biodiesel group. “We are happy to see the EPA cracking down on any potential fraud because we think it’s going to send a strong signal to the market that if people can’t get away with this type of thing.”

Not everyone is as pleased with how EPA is handling the matter.

Not only is the agency is pursuing companies allegedly selling bogus fuel credits, it also issued notices of violation to two dozen companies last fall, including several of the nation’s largest oil refiners, for using some of the invalid RINs to satisfy the biofuels mandate.

Under the market-based RIN system, EPA is maintaining a “buyer beware” policy for companies that claim they unknowingly purchased worthless fuel credits. That’s true even though both companies accused of generating bogus RINs had been required to register with the agency.

“I think it’s a tragedy that EPA has hid in the shadows on this one,” said Charles Drevna, president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, which has long opposed the renewable fuel mandate for a variety of reasons. “They allow con artists to register with them and then they say buyer beware.”

The outcry from oil companies has also captured the attention of some in Congress, including longtime critics of the EPA and the renewable fuels law.

Within the past two months, Republican lawmakers have sent letters to the EPA asking the agency to defend its position. Just this week, Sen. James Inhofe called for a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on RIN fraud.

The EPA has defended its enforcement actions, saying it long ago worked with producers, refiners and other parties to develop the market-based system for renewable fuel credits. The agency said that system includes are protections built into existing regulations to help prevent fraud, including a requirement for independent verification that fuel producers have appropriate equipment and fuel production capacity.

However, EPA said, buyers must do “due diligence” before buying RINs.

“EPA does not have the capacity to validate or certify the actual production of renewable fuel and associated RINs before RINs are generated,” the agency said in an email response to questions.

Meanwhile, the biofuels industry is trying to focus attention on the fact, in its view, the renewable fuel standard is working. Biodiesel production surpassed 1 billion gallons last year for the first time, helping create more jobs and diversify the nation’s fuel system, said Evans, the biodiesel industry spokesman.

“We don’t want to downplay (problems in the RIN market),” he said. “It’s creating significant disruption in our industry. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

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ST. LOUIS • Not as well-known and certainly not as big as A-B InBev and Monsanto, Gonzalez Cos. is tucked between the two other businesses on a list of top sponsors of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Sure, says company founder Anthony Gonzalez-Angel, the $10,000 a year his construction management firm pays to be a member helps promote his business. But he could do that with a lesser level of giving, or in different ways.

Gonzalez-Angel says he wants the chamber to have the tools it needs to continue its transition from more of a social entity to an agency that helps build and promote Hispanic businesses — and one that works to bridge the gap between small companies and large corporations.

“Economic empowerment leads to social empowerment,” Gonzalez-Angel said.

The chamber, around for three decades, has in the last few years raised its profile significantly. It has seen a surge in membership, made plans to buy its rented office space, scheduled a large-scale job fair for next month and has launched its first Latino Leadership Institute, supported by the chamber’s largest sponsor, Centene Corp.

In late 2009, the chamber moved into nearly 3,200 square feet of office space in the old South Side National Bank on South Grand Boulevard, not far from Cherokee Street, the unofficial Hispanic neighborhood of St cash advances pay day loan. Louis. Earlier chamber locations included a small office on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus, and the basement of a bank on Gravois Avenue, about a block from the current offices.

The chamber has just begun a $300,000 capital campaign to buy the office space.

“It shows that we have a home, a set place,” Ramirez said, “and that we are a committed part of the community.”

The chamber received a $500,000 federal grant to lease the space as well as the build-out and furniture.

GROOMING LEADERS

John Sondag, president of AT&T Missouri, said the chamber is making moves that position it to be more influential in the region’s business world.

Sondag was one of several corporate executives asked about a decade ago to sit on a chamber advisory committee. The chamber wanted to better tap into corporate St. Louis and better define its role, Sondag said.

“Up until then, it was more of a social club,” Sondag said. “Members would join but do more socializing rather than traditional chamber work to develop businesses. It’s important for us as a business to help other businesses grow. If the communities we serve grow, we all prosper and benefit.”

A grant from AT&T in 2009 was used to buy 30 computers for the chamber’s technology center. The chamber’s board president, Emma Espinoza, is an AT&T manager. And the company is sending one of its customer service representatives through the chamber’s Latino Leadership Institute, a nine-month professional development program which began in October with 11 applicants.

Ramirez hopes the institute becomes a staple of the programming and training offered through the chamber. The goal is to groom young Latinos early in their careers to better navigate the corporate world and become community leaders.

“Ten years from now, think about the difference that would make in St. Louis,” Ramirez said.

Longtime chamber board member Michael Zambrana said corporate involvement with the chamber is about more than offering experience, money and other resources.

“There is a more fundamental reason and that is for recruiting purposes,” said Zambrana, president and CEO of Pangea Inc., a construction and environmental services firm. “A lot of these companies do international business. They are looking for a connection to bring culture into their companies. It’s required in the international marketplace.”

CREATING VALUE

Ramirez said joining is appealing because it allows members to “tap into the workforce and the Hispanic buying power” and “helps companies with their diversity initiatives. Value means different things to different people.”

At La Vallesana, a Mexican restaurant on Cherokee Street, owner Hilario Vargas says the chamber has been a supportive partner in promoting the expansion of his business. The chamber held a ribbon-cutting to coincide with the September opening of the new addition. Two more expansions, including enlarging the dining room and adding a courtyard, are expected to be completed by summer. The dining guide will be an easy way to update the restaurant’s progress, Vargas said.

“They helped get the word out that we are no longer a little taco stand and now we’ve grown,” Vargas said of the chamber, with translation help from a manager.

The job and business fair next month at a downtown hotel is expected to have at least 60 vendors. Ramirez said it will be the largest hiring event held yet by the chamber, and one that he wants to grow each year.

“I genuinely believe diversity is valued in this region,” Ramirez said.

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