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

The stock market had a good day. The S&P 500 went up a little, after two days of going down. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq also increased.

Stock markets changed a lot during the day. The Dow went up fast because people hoped the US and China would start talking about a trade deal. This deal could help the world economy. The US and China have been putting more taxes on each other's goods. This is like a trade war. People are afraid this could cause money problems unless they trade more easily.

Talks between the U.S. and China this weekend gave some hope, but this hope became less when President Trump said he would not lower the taxes on Chinese products to start the talks. China wants the taxes to be lower before they talk.

The changes in taxes on goods have caused big ups and downs in the U.S. economy. For example, people bought a lot of goods from other countries fast to avoid paying the taxes. Even with these changes and surveys showing people are less hopeful about the future, the Fed says the economy is still strong now.

Jerome Powell, who leads the central bank, said they can wait before changing interest rates. This is even though Trump wants faster changes to help the economy.

Powell said, "We don't know many things." So, like other people, the Fed is waiting to see what happens with Trump's trade plan and if his new taxes on goods will work as he wants.

Powell said this is true especially because the trade war seems to be changing, and the US is talking more about trade with other countries.

The Fed also said they know that tariffs are making the economy riskier. This could mean fewer jobs and higher prices.

Powell said if taxes on goods from other countries stay high, prices will likely go up, the economy will grow slower, and more people might lose their jobs.

This could lead to a bad situation called “stagflation.” This happens when the economy is not growing, but prices are still going up. It is hard to fix this because the central bank does not have good ways to solve it. If they lower interest rates to help the economy and create jobs, prices might go up even more. But if they raise rates, the opposite would happen.

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

The Walt Disney Company's shares went up a lot, 10.8%, because they made more money than expected, said they will make more money later, and got over a million new customers for their online videos.

But companies are also saying that because the economy is not sure, it is hard for them to know how much money they will have in the future.

The company Marvell Technology's stock price went down 8%. They changed the date of their meeting with investors because they are not sure about the future of the economy.

The S&P 500 went up by 24.37 points to 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.

In the bond market, interest rates on government bonds went down after the Fed made an announcement. The interest rate on 10-year bonds went down a little, from 4.30% to 4.27%.

Most markets in Europe went down, but markets in Asia went up.