Stocks waver after an early drop as markets stay volatile

NEW YORK (AP) — The roller coaster ride on Wall Street resumed today, the first trading day of the new year, as stocks plunged in the morning and then climbed their way back by midday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 398 points in the first few minutes of trading after more shaky economic news from China. But it soon recouped those losses and turned slightly higher.

About two-thirds of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were trading higher.

That kind of whiplash was typical during the last three months of 2018.

A Chinese government survey and one by a major business magazine showed manufacturing in China weakened in December as global and domestic demand cooled. That weighed on big exporters, with tech companies like Microsoft and industrials like Boeing taking sharp losses early on, only to bounce back later.

After gliding gently higher for years, propelled by rising corporate profits and extremely low interest rates from the Federal Reserve, stocks have been heaving up and down in recent months as a host of fears weigh on investors, including threats to global economic growth.

Many strategists on Wall Street expect the volatility to carry through the year.