NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – U.S. stocks tumbled at Friday’s open after China’s bid to limit bank loans and slower-than-expected European growth raised worries about the strength of any global economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 140 points, or 1.4%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) slid 14 points, or 1.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 23 points, or 1%.

“It was the Chinese thing that seemed to spark the big selloff in Europe and the overnight futures,” said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets in London. “[The People's Bank of China] raised the reserve ratio so banks had to set more aside in reserves. They’re trying to cool the growth.”

Jones said that tightening in Chinese banking policy overshadowed the news coming out of another economic powerhouse, Germany, that its gross domestic product had a stagnant fourth quarter.

“So much of the stock recovery in Europe has depended on recovery in China, whenever we’ve seen China try to slow down the growth, we’ve seen a little panic in the stock market,” said Jones.

But Jones also said the concerns over debt problems in Greece seem to be subsiding.

Wall Street rallied Thursday after the European Union promised to help Greece with its budget woes. The Dow gained 106 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite both added 1.4%.

Asia: The People’s Bank of China said, on its Web site, that it has raised the reserve requirement ratio for depository financial institutions by 0.5% percentage point. This means that banks must have greater reserves to hold customer deposits, a way of tightening money supply in an effort to control inflation that also limits growth. This is the second time this year that China’s central bank has raised the reserve requirement ratio.

Asian stocks rose, with the Japanese Nikkei and other markets ending higher.

Europe: European Union members meeting in Brussels, Belgium Thursday said Greece must do whatever is necessary to cut its huge budget deficit and that the group would be prepared to step in if needed.

In recent weeks, Greece’s proposals to save money — including cutting wages and raising the retirement age — have prompted a series of worker strikes.

Although Greece’s impact is small, the nation’s financial problems has sparked fears of a broader debt crisis in Europe with Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy among the other euro zone nations seen as having growing debt problems.

U.S. investors have been trying to gauge what kind of impact such a crisis would have on financial institutions as well as the still-fragile global economic recovery.

Meanwhile, a report showed that euro zone GDP growth in the fourth quarter was 0.1%, short of the 0.3% economists were expecting.

European stocks slid, with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.6%.

Economy: Investors also kept an eye on a stronger-than-expected report on retail sales.

The report on January retail sales, delayed by this week’s snowstorms in Washington, showed that sales jumped 0.5%. Excluding automobiles, sales jumped 0.6%.

Retail sales were expected to have increased by 0.3% in January, according to a consensus of economist opinion compiled by Briefing.com. Retail sales, without automobiles, were expected to have increased 0.5% last month.

After U.S. markets open, a reading on business inventories is due out, as is the University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment.

Companies: The B shares (BRKB) of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will join the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after the close of trading Friday. The shares could get a boost, as money managers who run index funds tied to the blue-chip index will have to buy it.

Cash and bonds: The dollar rose against the euro, the yen and the pound. The price rose on the 10-year note, pushing up the yield to 3.69%.

Oil and gold: The price of oil dropped $2.07 per barrel to $73.21. Gold slipped $6.20 per ounce to $1,088.

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