MOSCOW (AP) — A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Sunday in Kazakhstan, ending their seven-month research assignment.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the capsule carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner and astronaut Don Pettit of U.S. space agency NASA landed on the Kazakh steppe near the city of Zhezkazgan at 6:20 a.m. (0120 GMT). Roscosmos said the parachute-assisted landing was a trouble-free descent.
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The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner gestures as he is carried to a medical tent shortly after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with fellow cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Don Pettit near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Don Pettit gestures as he is carried to a medical tent shortly after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin gestures as he sits outside after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with fellow cosmonaut Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Don Pettit in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner sits outside the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft after landing with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and fellow cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The trio returned after spending 220 days in space and orbiting the Earth 3,520 times, NASA said in a statement. The agency noted that, coincidentally, Pettit celebrated his 70th birthday on Sunday.
NASA said it was following its routine postlanding medical checks, and that the crew will return to the recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Pettit will then board a NASA plane bound for the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while Roscosmos said Ovchinin and Vagner will depart for a training base in Star City, Russia.
On Friday, Ovchinin handed over command of the ISS to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi in a change of command ceremony.
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner gestures as he is carried to a medical tent shortly after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with fellow cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Don Pettit near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
NASA astronaut Don Pettit gestures as he is carried to a medical tent shortly after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin gestures as he sits outside after landing in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with fellow cosmonaut Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Don Pettit in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner sits outside the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft after landing with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and fellow cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are wavering on Wall Street and holding on to most of the gains they made earlier in the week after the U.S. and China declared a temporary cease-fire in their trade war.
The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged Wednesday afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86 points, or 0.2% as of 1:04 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq rose 0.6%.
The majority of stocks in the S&P 500 lost ground, but several big technology stocks helped counter the losses. Super Micro Computer surged 17.2% after signing a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabian data center company DataVolt. Advanced Micro Devices jumped 5.5% after announcing a $6 billion stock buyback program.
Other big gainers included eToro Group, a retail trading platform for stocks and cryptocurrency. It rose 30% in its first day of trading.
The market has been relatively steady since its surge on Monday, which came after the U.S. and China entered a 90-day pause in their trade war. The market gained some more ground on Tuesday after the government reported that inflation unexpectedly cooled across the country in April. Additional updates on inflation and retail sales are expected on Thursday.
The benchmark S&P 500 index, which sits at the center many 401(k) accounts has erased all its losses since President Donald Trump escalated his global trade war in early April. It has now erased its losses for the year and is back to within 4.2% of its all-time high set in February.
“The stock market’s rally has legs, as the trade negotiation with China was seemingly the toughest one on the docket," said Rick Gardner, chief investment officer at RGA Investments.
Trump has delayed a large swath of his most severe tariffs against America's trading partners, but some import taxes remain in place. Uncertainty over the path ahead continues to hang over businesses and consumers. The on-again-off-again nature of Trump’s trade policy has left companies unable to plan ahead and consumers nervous about spending.
Businesses continue to trim or withdraw their financial forecasts as they face unpredictable trade policy and cautious consumers.
American Eagle fell 4.6% after the retailer withdrew its financial outlook for the year citing “macro uncertainty.” General Motors, UPS, Kraft Heinz and JetBlue are among the many companies representing a wide range of industries that have warned about the impact of tariffs and a weakening economy.
More than 90% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings for their latest quarter. The majority of companies have reported better-than-expected earnings, but forecasts for earnings growth during the current quarter have been broadly cut in half for companies in the index.
The economy has already showed signs of slowing. It shrank 0.3% during the first quarter amid a surge of imports as businesses and consumers tried to stock up amid tariffs and policy uncertainty.
Inflation remains a big concern. The latest data on consumer prices released Tuesday showed that tariffs haven’t had much impact yet. But that could change as the impact of current tariffs make their way through supply chains and delayed tariffs potentially go into effect. Inflation has cooled to just above the Federal Reserve's target of 2%, but the threat of higher prices on goods because of import taxes has heightened worries about inflation heating up.
The U.S. on Thursday will release its April report for inflation at the wholesale level, which is what companies are paying for goods. Economists expect an easing of inflation there.
The latest update Thursday for retail sales is expected to reflect a sharp drop to 0.2% in April from 1.4% the previous month.
Retail giant Walmart will also report its latest financial results on Thursday and its financial forecasts will be closely watched.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.52% from 4.47% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for Fed action, rose to 4.05% from 4.00% late Tuesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Asia and were mixed in Europe.
Specialist James Denaro works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist John McNierney, left, and trader Anthony Carannante work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options trader Chris Dattollo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options trader Chris Dattollo, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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, right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center 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, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
