Stock prices in the U.S. went up a little on Wednesday. This happened because the Federal Reserve did not change interest rates, which many people thought would happen. But the Federal Reserve also said there could be more problems for the U.S. economy.

The stock market went up a little. The S&P 500 index increased by 0.4%. Before this, it had gone down for two days. The Dow Jones index went up by 284 points, and the Nasdaq index also went up by 0.3%.

Stock markets changed a lot during the day. The Dow went up 400 points for a short time. This happened because people hoped the U.S. and China might start a trade deal. This deal could help the world economy. The U.S. and China have been adding more taxes on each other's goods. This is like a trade fight. People worry it could cause money problems if they don't trade more easily.

News about US and Chinese officials meeting in Switzerland this weekend made people more hopeful. But then President Trump said he would not lower the taxes on Chinese goods. China wants the taxes to be lower before they talk about trade. The meetings are supposed to help start these talks.

When there was uncertainty about import taxes, it caused big changes in the US economy. For example, people bought many goods from other countries quickly to avoid the taxes. The central bank said the economy is still doing well now, even though things have been changing and people feel less hopeful about the future.

Jerome Powell, the head of the central bank, said they can wait before changing interest rates. President Trump wants them to lower rates quickly to help the economy, but Powell said they have enough time.

"We don't know many things," Powell said. So the Fed and others are waiting to see what happens in Trump's trade conflict and if his taxes on goods, which were harder than people thought, will work as he planned.

That is true especially because the trade war seems to be changing, Powell said. The United States is talking more about trade with other countries.

Yes, the Fed also said that it knows there are more risks for the economy because of tariffs. Tariffs could make it harder for people to find jobs and could also make prices go up.

If the big taxes on things from other countries continue, prices will probably go up, the economy will not grow as fast, and more people will lose their jobs, Powell said.

This could lead to a bad situation for the Fed called 'stagflation.' This is when the economy is not growing, but prices are still increasing. People do not like this because the Fed does not have simple ways to make it better. For example, if they lower interest rates to help the economy and jobs, prices might go up even more. If they raise rates, it would do the opposite.

Big American companies are making more money now, at the start of 2025, than experts thought.

The Walt Disney Company's shares went up a lot, 10.8%. This happened because the company made more money than experts thought they would. They also said they expect to make even more money later, and over a million new people signed up for their online TV service.

But companies are also still saying that they don't know what will happen with the economy. This makes it hard for them to know how much money they will have in the future.

The company Marvell Technology, which makes computer chips, saw its stock price go down by 8%. They changed the date of a meeting with investors from June to a later time because they are not sure about the economy.

The S&P 500 went up by 24.37 points and finished at 5,631.28. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also went up by 284.97 points to 41,113.97. The Nasdaq composite went up by 48.50 to 17,738.16.

After the government's announcement, the interest rates for long-term loans went down a little.

Markets in Europe mostly went down, but markets in Asia went up. This was because China lowered interest rates to help their economy.