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Two signs of trouble elsewhere in the world pushed U.S. stocks lower: slowing economic growth in China and a possible hitch in a deal to get Greece its bailout money.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed the day down 14.76 points to 12,962.81, or down 0.1 percent. The Dow closed above 13,000 last week for the first time since May 2008.

Monday was the 45th consecutive trading day without a loss of 100 points or more for the Dow. The last streak longer than that was 93 trading days from July 17 to Nov. 24, 2006.

Much of the pessimism in the market stemmed from China’s premier, Wen Jiabao, lowering China’s target rate for economic growth to 7.5 percent from 8 percent, where it has stood for years. That’s a negative sign because growth in China has been a key factor shoring up the global economy since the financial crisis of 2008.

The news sent steel company stocks sharply lower. Half of the world’s steel is consumed in China. AK Steel Holding Corp. lost 6 percent, while US Steel fell 4.7 percent.

The lower projection for Chinese growth also hurt stocks of U.S. materials companies that depend on China for profits. Caterpillar, which makes heavy equipment, fell 2.1 percent. Alcoa, the aluminum maker, fell 3.6 percent.

The Dow fell as much as 93 points in the morning before recouping some of that loss in the afternoon. Some market strategists said it was an overreaction to read too much into China’s projection.

“China is still a driver of global growth, even at its slightly reduced pace,” said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus. “The growth rate is still far better than the U.S. and Europe.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 5.30 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,364.33.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 25.71 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,950.48. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell slightly more than the other indexes as its star stocks Apple fell 2.2 percent and Google fell close to 1.1 percent.

Also weighing on the market were worries that not enough private investors will participate in a bond swap in Greece and accept bonds of lower face value and lower returns.

Trying to reassure world markets, a group representing a dozen banks, insurers and investment funds that hold Greek government bonds said they will participate in the swap by the Thursday night deadline.

Greece needs private investors to sign on before it gets a second international bailout worth $172 billion. Without the bailout, it could default on its debt later this month, an event many fear could shock the world financial system.

The stock market’s losses were limited by some positive news from the U.S. economy. Service companies expanded in February at the fastest pace in a year, helped by a rise in orders and job growth.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of non-manufacturing activity rose to 57.3, up from 56.8 in January and the third straight increase. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

In recent months, markets have been lifted by signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. U.S. stock indexes have been trading at their highest levels since before the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank in 2008.

Among other stocks making big moves:

_ Alpha Natural Resources, a coal producer, fell 6 percent after the price of natural gas fell close to 5 percent due to weak demand for gas in a mild winter.

_ Archipelago Learning stock soared 22.7 percent after the online education company agreed to be bought by Plato Learning for $291 million in cash, helping boost the number of customers.

_ US Airways Group fell 8.4 percent after the airline said passenger revenue growth slowed in February, indicating it is having a tough time raising fares and fees to offset climbing oil prices.

_ American International Group rose close to 2 percent. AIG will raise $6 billion by selling part of its stake in an Asian insurance company and pay down some of its debt to the U.S. government from a bailout during the financial crisis. AIG owed $50 billion at the end of 2011.

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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

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

St. Louis • It took less than 90 minutes - with a 20-minute break - for the city on Monday to sell off 162 acres of land it had spent decades accumulating.

In a series of unanimous votes, three city panels agreed to sell developer Paul McKee 1,233 pieces of land, and an option to buy the massive former Pruitt-Igoe site, for $3.2 million and promises that his stalled NorthSide Regeneration project will start to move forward.

Altogether, the purchases will more than double McKee’s holdings on the city’s near north side, where he has been working for eight years to assemble land for a project he says could transform some of St. Louis’ most battered neighborhoods. Taking on hundreds of city-owned parcels, most of which have long sat vacant, will enable him to market larger sites - in some cases whole blocks - to potential tenants, McKee said. That should make more deals feasible, he said.

Largely unmentioned was the ongoing lawsuit that has slowed the project. It has been nearly two years since a city judge tossed out $390 million in tax increment financing, which has stalled road and sewer work in the area. An Appeals Court heard oral arguments in the case earlier this month; a decision is expected soon.

In the meantime, McKee keeps talking with prospective tenants, and he shared more details Monday.

Grace Hill Health Centers is planning a clinic in the project area, he said, and Sunshine Ministries is preparing to move into 40,000 square feet of new space. A biotech company McKee wouldn’t name is interested in a project near the old Carr School, and various office and retail users are looking at sites.

“We have had interest (from tenants) all over the project area,” he said.

While McKee already owns about 103 acres of the project’s 1,500-acre footprint, it was always clear that he would need more land. He has been talking with the city about buying its property for years.

But the agreement was only announced on Friday, when agendas were posted for special meetings of the three city agencies that own the land. The meetings themselves had all the markings of a done deal, with a few questions by board members but no real debate, and unanimous votes all around.

While about a dozen of McKee’s consultants and lawyers showed up, no neighborhood residents or McKee critics attended the mid-afternoon meeting at the St. Louis Development Corp. offices downtown. The only skeptical note was sounded by Alderman Marlene Davis, who represents a small part of the project area. She asked that 31 parcels in her ward be held out of the sale for other development, which the city permitted.

“If I were sitting in your chair I probably wouldn’t do this,” she told the three members of the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA). “But it’s not my call.”

Rodney Crim, Mayor Francis Slay’s top development official, said the agreement was a good one. It moves more than one-tenth of all city-owned property off the books, adding $100,000 to the tax rolls and saving the cost of mowing and maintenance. Some of the $3.2 million proceeds will pay to demolish more crumbling city-owned buildings across north St. Louis, freeing up more land for redevelopment. And much of the ground has been up for sale for decades, with no credible buyers, until McKee.

“The market hasn’t addressed this issue,” Crim said. “Now we have a developer who plans to address the whole area and is ready to move forward.”

The agreement requires that McKee create more than 160 jobs and get his first wave of projects well underway by 2016. But the developer said he’s moving on a much faster timeframe.

“I need this to happen tomorrow,” he said.

It won’t take long to be official. Monday’s votes were the only public action required for the sales. Now McKee’s lawyers and city officials will iron out details. They plan to close by the end of February.

Then McKee will have two years to find something to do with Pruitt-Igoe. The infamous former housing complex sits at Jefferson and Cass Avenue, the heart of his project area, and is a key piece of ground. But it’s also likely polluted ground, with unknown debris from the demolition of its high-rise apartment towers in the 1970s. McKee bought a two-year option on the site for $100,000, to buy time while he looks for cleanup funding and markets the site to tenants. Taking control for good will cost him an additional $900,000.

Crim said the prices were determined through LRA’s standard appraisal process, which is based on comparable property nearby and other factors. The city included Pruitt-Igoe in the deal, Crim said, because it wants a comprehensive approach to the area.

“It has to fit in. It can’t be an individual use,” Crim said. “And this developer has a lot of business ties that will help him to market the site.”

TERMS OF THE DEAL

Three city agencies agreed to sell 1,233 parcels of land - totaling 162 acres - to Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration LLC, for $3.2 million. The deal includes $100,000 a two-year option for the 33-acre Pruitt-Igoe site. To close the sale, NorthSide must pay an additional $900,000. NorthSide must demolish 200 buildings by the end of 2013 and rehab 75 buildings. NorthSide must perform regular maintenance and mowing, hold job fairs and offer training to local residents. NorthSide must complete three-fourths of its first round of projects and create 168 jobs by 2016. The second round must be half-complete by 2020. Failure to meet terms means the city can buy back the land at the purchase price.

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Coffee chain joins with giant Tata group in $80M courtship of India

U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday after Greece’s bailout deal was put on hold, a day after it seemed that the country had satisfied its creditors.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 115 points to at 12,775 just before midday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 11 points to 1,341. The Nasdaq composite fell 21 points to 2,906.

Investors had breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the heads of the three parties backing his government agreed to private sector wage cuts, civil service layoffs and cuts in government spending.

But finance ministers from the other 16 countries that use the euro insisted that Greece save an extra euro325 million ($430 million), pass the cuts through parliament and guarantee that they will be enforced after planned elections in April.

Greece needs another round of international bailout money, its second, to avoid missing a bond payment next month and defaulting, an event that could cause a shock in world financial markets.

By Friday, four Greek cabinet ministers had resigned over the wage cuts and spending reductions, known as austerity measures.

“The economy in Greece is deteriorating faster than anticipated, and the austerity measures aren’t particularly popular,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott. “There could be a disorderly default.”

The decline in U.S. stocks was broad. All 10 categories of stock in the S&P 500 were down, led by materials companies, down 1.8 percent. Industrial, energy and financial companies fell 1 percent.

Stocks have been generally rising on small daily gains this year because of good economic news and sense that the worst of the debt crisis in Europe may be over. The Dow has risen 4.5 percent in 2012. Its last loss of 100 or more points was Dec. 28.

The benchmark index in Athens fell 3.2 percent. Germany’s DAX was down 1.6 percent. The CAC-40 in France was down 1.1 percent.

The euro, which had risen Thursday to its highest level against the dollar in two months, fell by a penny and was trading at just under $1.32. U.S. Treasury yields fell, a sign that investors were buying bonds as a safer investment than stocks.

Among stocks making big moves in the United States:

_ LinkedIn rose 17 percent. The online networking company announced that fourth quarter earnings had soared and revenue doubled.

_ Jeans maker True Religion Apparel plunged 24 percent. The company reported earnings that were far below what analysts were expecting and analysts slashed their ratings on the stock, citing weak sales and big markdowns.

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Nokia Corp. plans to stop assembling cell phones in Europe by year-end as it shifts production to Asia and will cut another 4,000 jobs, its latest attempts to cushion itself from stiff competition in the smartphone sector.

The Finnish company said Wednesday it will make the new job cuts at three plants in Finland, Mexico and Hungary this year as it reorganizes global manufacturing operations to compete better with the likes of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and handsets using Google Inc.’s Android operating software.

The cuts come on top of nearly 10,000 layoffs announced last year.

Nokia said it had increasingly shifted cell phone assembly from Europe to Asia, where the majority of component suppliers are based, to help it reach markets faster. The company said it would not close the three factories, however.

“There will be no assembling of mobile phones at our plants in Europe after this,” Nokia spokesman James Etheridge said. “We plan to focus product assembly at our plants in Asia where the majority of our suppliers are based, while our facilities in Salo, Komarom and Reynosa will focus on the software-heavy aspects of the production process.”

Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said Nokia’s move “made sense” and was in line with what other cell phone makers had been doing for years, such as Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Inc., and Sony Ericsson, which had large assembly plants in Europe.

“It’s an unstoppable trend really. Essentially, labor costs, land costs and other associated costs are so much lower in Asia,” Mawston said. “Also, Asia is so much closer to the biggest pool of users now so from a supply and demand side Asia looks a lot more attractive than Europe.”

Nokia said the shift to Asia would enable it to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and “ultimately be more competitive.”

Once the bellwether of the industry, Nokia has lost its dominant position in the global mobile phone market, with Android phones and iPhones overtaking it in the growing smartphone segment. It’s also been squeezed in the low-end by Asian manufacturers making cheaper phones, such as ZTE.

Nokia has been the leading handset maker since 1998 but after reaching its global goal of 40 percent market share in 2008, the company has gradually lost overall market share. It plummeted to below 30 percent last year.

In an attempt to remedy the slide, Nokia launched its new Windows Phone 7 in October, eight months after CEO Stephen Elop announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp. That heralded a major strategy shift for the Espoo-based company as it adopted the Windows operating system in its new phones.

But analysts have said it could take a few quarters before Nokia’s success can be measured.

Last month, Nokia reported that smartphone sales plummeted 23 percent globally in the fourth quarter as net revenue fell 20 percent to euro10 billion ($13.11 billion) compared to a year earlier.

Nokia share price closed up slightly at euro3.88 ($5.09) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Nokia, based in Espoo near the Finnish capital, employs 130,000 people _ down from more than 132,000 a year ago.

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Online:

http://www.nokia.com

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Japan

Payments processor MasterCard says it took a $495 million charge in its fourth quarter to cover potential losses from an ongoing lawsuit brought by merchants over the fees they pay on credit card transactions.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based company says the charge represents the after-tax portion of a potential settlement in the case. Wall Street had speculated the bill would run about $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion if MasterCard Inc. and rival Visa Inc. settle the suit.

The charge reduced MasterCard’s fourth-quarter profit. The company earned $19 million, or 15 cents per share, on revenue of $1.73 billion. Removing the charge, it says profit came to $4.03 per share,

Analysts were expecting profit of $3.92 per share, on revenue of $1.73 billion.

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