NEW YORK — The roller-coaster ride on Wall Street resumed Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year, as stocks plunged early on, then slowly recovered and finished with a slight gain.

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 gradually recouped those losses, and a small rally over the last 15 minutes of trading left major indexes a bit higher than where they started.

That kind of whiplash was typical during the last three months of 2018, and many strategists think it is likely to continue.

After trading ended, Apple gave a quarterly sales forecast that was far worse than analysts expected.

It said its revenue will be lower than previously believed because of China's slowing economy.

Some of last year's worst performers, including energy and Internet companies, led the gains Wednesday.