Alibaba dips on China economic worries

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Michael Evans, co-president of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., gestures as he speaks at a news conference during the company’s annual November 11 Singles’ Day online shopping event in Shenzhen, China, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016.

Shares of Alibaba dipped just before market close Monday following a Wall Street Journal report citing President Michael Evans’ concerns about an economic slowdown in China.

The stock closed 1.35 percent down after trading up for most of the day.

“China has slowed down,” Evans said during a presentation at the National Retail Federation’s annual conference, according to the Journal. “As a $13 trillion economy, it would be quite unusual if it could continue to grow at 7 percent or 8 percent.”

Evans attributed the pull back in the Chinese economy to “natural causes” as well as ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., the newspaper reported.

Evans’ warning comes less than two weeks after Apple CEO Tim Cook cited headwinds in China as the main cause of a rare revenue shortfall for Apple. The country has emerged as something of a pain point for some of the world’s largest companies.

Alibaba in particular, with its global e-commerce business rooted firmly in both China and the U.S., stands to suffer from continuing trade challenges.

WATCH: China slowdown weighs on stocks