NEW YORK, July 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded on a downbeat note Monday amid a batch of encouraging economic data.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 116.64 points, or 0.48 percent, to 24,154.77. The S&P 500 was down 9.65 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,708.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 17.18 points, or 0.23 percent, to 7,493.12.

Fears of potential trade wars between Washington and other major economies lingered, plaguing market sentiment, experts noted.

Investors also digested a slew of newly released data.

The U.S. manufacturing expanded in June as the PMI registered 60.2 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the May reading of 58.7 percent, the Institute for Supply Management said in its latest report on Monday.

The figure indicated strong growth in manufacturing for the 22nd consecutive month, led by continued expansion in new orders, production and employment.

Meanwhile, construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,309.5 billion U.S. dollars in May, 0.4 percent above the revised April estimate of 1,304.5 billion dollars, reported the U.S. Commerce Department. Enditem