Wall Street storms back from early losses, echoing its manic moves through a historic April

NEW YORK (AP) — Much like its wild month of April, a scary Wednesday for Wall Street found a gentler ending as U.S. stocks stormed back from steep early losses to continue their manic swings amid uncertainty about what President Donald Trump’s trade war will do to the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to extend its winning streak to a seventh day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 141 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite edged down by 0.1%.

It was a stunning reversal after the S&P 500 dropped as much as 2.3% and the Dow fell 780 points in early trading. Stocks initially tumbled after a report suggested the U.S. economy may have shrunk at the start of the year, falling well short of economists’ expectations, in a sharp turnaround from the economy’s solid growth at the end of last year.

Importers rushed to bring products into the country before tariffs could raise their prices, which helped drag on the country’s overall gross domestic product.

Such data raised the threat of a worst-case scenario called “stagflation,” one where the economy stagnates yet inflation remains high. Economists fear it because the Federal Reserve has no good tools to fix both problems at the same time. If the Fed were to try to help one problem by adjusting interest rates, it would likely make the other worse.

“Even if today’s weak GDP may have partially reflected companies trying to get ahead of tariffs, it was still a stagflation warning shot over the bow of the economy,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

But some better news came later in the day when a report said the measure of inflation that the Fed likes to use slowed in March. Inflation decelerated to 2.3%, closer to the Fed’s goal of 2%, from February’s reading of 2.7%. Stocks began paring their losses almost immediately after the report.

If inflation keeps trending lower, it would give the Fed more leeway to cut interest rates in order to juice the economy. Expectations are building for the Fed to cut its main interest rate at least four times by the end of this year, according to data from CME Group, though it likely won’t begin at its next meeting next week.

Much of Wednesday’s economic data raised concerns about a weakening economy. A report on the job market from ADP suggested employers outside the government may have hired far fewer workers in April than economists expected, less than half.

It’s discouraging because a relatively solid job market has been one of the linchpins keeping the U.S. economy stable. A more comprehensive report on the job market from the U.S. government will arrive on Friday.

Wednesday’s reports add to worries that Trump’s trade war may drag the U.S. economy into a recession. The president’s on-again-off-again rollout of tariffs has created deep uncertainty about what’s to come, which could cause damage by itself.

“I’m not taking a credit or discredit for the stock market,” Trump said Wednesday. “I’m just saying we inherited a mess.”

Uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs has already triggered historic swings for financial markets, from stocks to bonds to the value of the U.S. dollar, that battered investors through April. The S&P 500 briefly dropped nearly 20% below its all-time high set earlier this year, with scary headlines at one point warning of the potential for the worst April since the Great Depression.

But the uncertainty has been two-sided, and hopes that Trump may relent on some of his tariffs helped the S&P 500 claw back a chunk of its losses. It ended April with a decline of just 0.8%, much milder than March’s, and it’s only 9.4% below its record.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies have helped support the market, and Seagate Technology jumped 11.6% for one of Wednesday’s biggest gains after the maker of data storage joined the parade.

Gains for other storage makers also helped to offset drops for stocks within the artificial-intelligence industry, which have been pulling back on worries their prices shot too high in prior years.

Super Micro Computer warned that some customers delayed purchases in the latest quarter, which caused the maker of servers used in AI and other computing to slash its forecast for sales and profit. Its stock tumbled 11.5% for the largest loss in the S&P 500.

Starbucks sank 5.7% after the coffee chain fell short of analysts’ forecasts for revenue and profit in the latest quarter. Starbucks did log its first quarterly sales increase in more than a year, but acknowledged that its turnaround effort is far from complete.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 8.23 points to 5,569.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141.74 to 40,669.36, and the Nasdaq composite fell 14.98 to 17,446.34.

It still marked the close of a third straight losing month for the S&P 500. Stocks in the energy industry took some of the hardest hits, dropping over three times more than any of the other 11 sectors that make up the index.

Halliburton, an oil services company, lost nearly 22% in April as the price of crude slid on worries that tariffs will weaken the global economy.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell as investors ratcheted up their expectations for cuts to interest rates by the Fed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.17% from 4.19% late Tuesday.

Lower interest rates in general give boosts to prices for stocks and other investments.

Yields have largely been sinking since an unsettling, unusual spurt higher earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond market’s reputation as a safe place to park cash.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Patrick McKeon, center, works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Bobby Charmak, right, works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Anthony Matesic works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Bobby Charmak, center, works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Stephen Naughton works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Matthew Cheslock, left, and Anthony Confusione work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Trader Peter Tuchman, foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Peter Mancuso works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader William William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)