The US stock index was mixed on Wednesday, closing a chaotic month in the stock market following President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariff policies and growing fears of a recession. The S&P 500 rose 0.15% on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 0.35% at the time of closing. Meanwhile, the technology-rich Nasdaq composites fell by 0.09%.
Stocks have recently recovered in the past few days as Trump administration officials suggested they could reach a trade deal that could cool the ongoing trade war. However, news of the first quarter contraction of 0.3% in the economy, which came before the full impact of April’s tariffs were explained, will see the index fall early on Wednesday as fears of a recession rose, but S&P and Dow Jones recovered by the end of trading day.
The Commerce Department’s announcement on the contract economy is due to business uncertainty over Trump’s tariff plans and slowing consumer spending. The news marks a dramatic shift from the first contraction since the first quarter of 2022 and the 2.4% growth in gross domestic product experienced in the last quarter of 2024.
Stocks were assaulted in the aftermath of Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement on April 2, but they were slowly recovering in the weeks that followed, as the president hopes to soften his policies and reach deals with trading partners.
So far, no deals have appeared, and the Trump administration has made conflicting explanations as to where negotiations are. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump Top Trade Advisor Peter Navarro said the White House was Nearly negotiating a customs contract With India.
Trump’s first 100 days
The president has shut down his first 100 days, one of the worst starts for the president’s stock market in recent memory.
From January 20th to late April, the S&P 500 fell almost 8%. luckBen Weiss and Irina Ivanova reported on Tuesday the worst kickoff to the new president’s term since Gerald Ford took over after Richard Nixon resigned.
“The US stock market and the dollar are worse than it has continued in the first 100 days of all other presidential conditions since 1980,” John Higgins, chief market economist in capital economics, wrote Monday in a research note entitled “The next 100 days certainly not the last turbulence.”
Key revenues for the second half of Wednesday will be closely monitored by Wall Street: Qualcomm, Meta and Microsoft after closing bells.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
