American stocks went up a little on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve kept the main interest rate the same, which many people expected. But they also said there could be more problems for the American economy.

The stock market went up today after two days of going down.

Stock market prices changed a lot today. The Dow Jones index went up by 400 points for a short time. This happened because people hoped the United States and China might start to make a trade deal. This deal could help the world economy. The two biggest economies have been putting more taxes on products from each other. This is like a trade war. People are worried this could cause a time when businesses don't do well, unless they let countries trade more easily.

People felt more hopeful when they heard about talks between the US and China in Switzerland, but this hope decreased after President Trump said he would not lower taxes on Chinese products. China wants the US to lower these taxes before they talk about trade.

Sometimes, not knowing about changes in taxes on goods has made the U.S. economy change a lot. For example, people bought many goods quickly to avoid paying more taxes later. Even though the economy changed and people feel less positive about the future, the main bank in the U.S. said the economy is still doing well now.

Jerome Powell, who is in charge of the US central bank, said they can wait before changing interest rates. This is true even though Trump wants them to lower rates faster to help the economy.

"There is a lot we don't know," Powell said. So the Fed and others are waiting to see what happens with Trump's trade war and if his taxes on goods, which were higher than people thought, will happen as he wants.

This is very true, especially because the trade war seems to be changing, Powell said. The US is also talking more about trade with other countries.

The central bank also said it knows that the economy is facing more problems because of tariffs. These tariffs could make it harder for people to find jobs and could make prices go up.

"If these big tariff increases continue, prices will probably go up, the economy will grow slower, and more people will lose their jobs," Powell said.

This situation could be bad for the economy. Prices might stay high, and the economy might not grow. It's hard to fix because the government doesn't have good ways to help. If they make it cheaper to borrow money to help businesses and jobs, prices might go up more. But if they make it more expensive to borrow money, it could hurt the economy.

Meanwhile, 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%. This happened because they earned more money than they thought they would. They also said they think they will earn even more money in the future. And, over a million new people started watching their shows online.

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

The company Marvell Technology's share price went down 8%. They changed the date of their meeting with investors from June to a time they don't know yet. This is because they are not sure about the economy.

The S&P 500 went up by 24.37 points and is now 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 and is now at 17,738.16.

In the market for government bonds, interest rates went down after the Fed gave their news. The interest rate for the 10-year bond went down a little, from 4.30% to 4.27%, at the end of Tuesday.

Markets in Europe mostly went down, but markets in Asia went up. Markets in Hong Kong went up a little, and markets in Shanghai went up more. China lowered interest rates and did other things to help their economy and markets. This was needed because higher taxes from Trump made it harder for China to sell goods to other countries.