On Wednesday, US stocks went up a little after the Federal Reserve did not change its main interest rate, which many people expected. However, they also said there were more risks for the US economy.

The S&P 500 increased by 0.4%, stopping a two-day loss after winning for nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by 284 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite also rose by 0.3%.

Stock markets moved up and down during the day, and the Dow Jones went up by 400 points for a short time. This happened because people hoped the US and China might start working on a trade agreement that could help the world economy. The two largest economies have been putting higher taxes on each other's products in a trade dispute that is getting worse. People are afraid this could lead to a recession if they don't allow trade to happen more easily.

There was hope for talks between the US and China, but this decreased when President Trump said he wouldn't lower taxes on Chinese products. China wants these taxes lowered before they start talking.

This uncertainty about tariffs has caused big changes in the U.S. economy. For example, people imported a lot of goods quickly to avoid paying tariffs. Even though there are these changes and surveys show Americans are less hopeful about the future, the Fed says the economy is still growing well right now.

Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, said they have time to wait before changing interest rates, even though Trump wants them to cut rates sooner to boost the economy.

"We don't know many things," Powell said. So, like others in the financial world and everywhere else, the Fed is waiting to see what actually happens with Trump's trade problems and if his taxes on imported goods, which were tougher than expected, will work as planned.

This is especially true because the trade war seems to be starting a new period, Powell said. The United States is having more talks about trade with other countries.

The Fed also said it knows that tariffs are making the economy riskier. This could make it harder to find jobs and also cause prices to go up.

Powell said that if the announced big increases in taxes on imports continue, they will likely cause prices to rise, economic growth to slow down, and more people to lose their jobs.

This difficult situation is called 'stagflation'. It happens when the economy is not growing, but prices are still going up. This is a problem because the central bank doesn't have simple ways to fix it. If they lower interest rates to help the economy and create jobs, prices might go up even more. But if they raise rates, it could harm the economy.

Meanwhile, large American companies are making more profit at the start of 2025 than experts expected.

The Walt Disney Company's stock went up by 10.8% because its profits were much better than expected. It also said it expects higher profits in the future and got over a million new streaming customers.

However, companies are still saying that economic uncertainty makes it hard for them to predict their future income and costs.

The company Marvell Technology, which makes computer chips, saw its shares fall by 8% because it decided to delay its meeting for investors until later, as it is unsure about the future of the economy.

Overall, the S&P 500 went up by 24.37 points, ending at 5,631.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also increased by 284.97 points, reaching 41,113.97, and the Nasdaq composite gained 48.50 points, finishing at 17,738.16.

In the bond market, interest rates on government bonds went down after the central bank announced something. The rate on the 10-year government bond went down a little from 4.30% to 4.27%.

Markets in Europe mostly went down, while markets in Asia went up.