By Sue Chang and Chris Matthews, MarketWatch

China's exports slow sharply

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower Monday, but well off session lows, as investors looked past evidence of a still-strong U.S. economy to fret over proliferating signs of a global economic slowdown and the effects of a U.S.-China trade dispute.

The Nasdaq Composite bucked the trend to advance thanks to a strong performance by shares of semiconductor companies.

How are the benchmarks faring?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 72 points, or 0.3%, to 24,316, while the S&P 500 shed 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,627. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 31 points, or 0.5%, to 7,000.

At session lows, the Dow had lost more than 500 points, while the S&P had shed 50 points and the Nasdaq had been down 81 points.

What's driving the market?

Concerns over global growth took center stage after new data showing a sharp slowdown in Chinese export growth (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-export-growth-slows-sharply-in-november-2018-12-10) reinforced fears that the best of the current bull market is behind us.

That's despite numerous indicators that support the bull case that the U.S. economy, at least, could continue to grow at a healthy pace into next year and beyond.

Among these are survey data from manufacturers and service providers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ism-service-index-registers-second-strongest-reading-in-13-years-2018-12-06) showing resilient demand and a healthy U.S. consumer.

The Labor Department also said U.S. job openings rose to 7.08 million in October (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics), from 6.96 million a month earlier.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-bruised-stock-market-looks-to-the-fed-for-relief-2018-12-08)But trade worries have also been getting in the way of traditional end-of-year gains. China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned the U.S. ambassador on Sunday (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/china-calls-in-us-ambassador-over-huawei-affair/10598840) to insist the U.S. withdraw its arrest warrant on Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who was detained on Dec. 1 in Canada.

Read:Huawei arrest creates concerns in Silicon Valley as well as abroad (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/huawei-arrest-creates-concerns-in-silicon-valley-as-well-as-abroad-2018-12-06)

Some are worried that the Huawei executive's arrest, news of which triggered sharp losses for Wall Street and global markets last week, will make it tough for China to follow through on trade concessions to the U.S. Investors are already dubious over how much progress was made between the two countries at the recent G-20 meeting.

Fears of an escalating trade conflict were also compounded by comments from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-amb-robert-lighthizer-on-face-the-nation-december-9-2018/) that he considers the 90-day moratorium from new tariffs granted to the Chinese a "hard deadline," and that the administration is not considering delaying an escalation of the trade conflict if the two sides can't agree to an armistice by March 1.

Opinion:The stock market is overreacting because fears about the economy are overblown (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-stock-market-is-overreacting-because-fears-about-the-economy-are-overblown-2018-12-08)

Investors are also increasingly focusing on the Dec. 18-19 Federal Reserve meeting, where the central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates. Comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be in the spotlight, and if he strikes a more conciliatory tone, hinting at a slowing of future hikes, it could spark the highly anticipated Santa rally (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-bruised-stock-market-looks-to-the-fed-for-relief-2018-12-08).

British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed a decision to postpone a vote (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uks-may-confirms-brexit-vote-delay-says-deal-must-include-controversial-northern-ireland-backstop-2018-12-10) on her plan for the U.K. to exit from the European Union, potentially adding another complication to the fraught Brexit process.

What are analysts saying?

"Higher volatility and wider intraday and intraweek ranges are likely par for the course these days and momentum can shift without an easily-defined reason. A few key large cap tech stocks caught a bid today and that helped rally the Nasdaq off the day's lows," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist, at Charles Schwab & Co.

"Today's selloff is a continuation of Friday," Doug Cohen, portfolio manager with Athena Capital Group told MarketWatch, when no amount of good news was able to distract investors from their growing fears over slowing global growth.

Oil prices have risen in December, Cohen said, but "not because of rising demand," while the Fed's dovish turn of late underscores "evidence that growth of the U.S. economy is slowing," as much as it gives equity investors hope that interest rates won't rise significantly from here, he said.

"The majority of the news last week [was] net positive," Tom Essaye, president of the Sevens Report, said in a note to clients.

"There won't be 25% tariffs on Jan. 1, and momentum toward a deal appears to be building, as the jobs report was solid but not too hot, while ISM Manufacturing PMIs were strong, and the Fed is shifting more and more dovish," he wrote.

What stocks are in focus?

Shares of Tesla Inc. (TSLA) rose 1.3%. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk appeared on "60 Minutes," (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-slams-sec-says-teslas-critics-have-been-unfair-and-outrageous-2018-12-09) defending himself and the company from what he referred to as "relentless criticism." Musk said he set and made a production target of 5,000 Model 3s a week and made the company profitable.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 0.7% despite negative headlines. A key supplier, Japan Display Inc. , said it was cutting production for crystal display panels for the iPhone XR.

The company is also the focus of a dispute with Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), and the chip maker announced (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-court-orders-apple-to-stop-selling-some-iphones-2018-12-10) that a Chinese court ordered Apple to stop selling older iPhone models in the country due to patent infringement. Qualcomm stock is up 2.4%.

Axovant Sciences Ltd. (AXON) plunged 26% after the drugmaker announced (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/axovant-shares-slide-24-premarket-after-trial-of-treatment-for-sleep-disorder-fails-to-meet-main-goal-2018-12-10) a trial of a treatment for REM sleep behavior disorder wasn't successful.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.T) slid 0.2% after it said (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aurora-cannabis-to-buy-mexican-partner-farmacias-magistrales-in-stock-deal-2018-12-10) that it has entered a letter of intent to buy Mexico's Farmacias Magistrales SA in a stock deal.

Shares of Linde Plc(LIN.XE) are rising 2.7% after the multinational chemical company announced a $1 billion share repurchase program.

How are other markets trading?

Asian markets fell (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asia-stocks-fall-after-chinese-trade-data-misses-expectations-2018-12-09) with China's Shanghai Composite Index dropping 0.8% and the Nikkei 225 index down 2.1%. European markets also declined (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-markets-dip-amid-downbeat-growth-signals-out-of-germany-and-france-2018-12-10).

U.S. crude oil prices were lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-slips-cant-extend-fridays-opec-led-price-surge-2018-12-10), while gold also retreated, and the U.S. dollar climbed 0.7%.

--Barbara Kollmeyer contributed to this report

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2018 14:16 ET (19:16 GMT)