NEW YORK — 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.
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.
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, accepting lower face value and lower returns.
