Stock market today: Wall Street futures fall ahead of Federal Reserve's two-day meeting

U.S. markets traded modestly lower before the bell Tuesday and ahead of the first of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting on where to go with interest rates.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials both slipped 0.3% in premarket trading, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.5%.

As the Fed prepares to meet Tuesday and Wednesday, the central bank and its chair, Jerome Powell, are faced with an economy that is looking somewhat different than it did at its last meeting just two months ago. Hiring was solid. The economy grew at a solid pace in last year’s final quarter. And inflation, while stubborn, had fallen sharply from its peak more than two years ago.

Now, on-and-off again tariff threats from President Donald Trump and sharp cuts to government spending and jobs have tanked consumer and business confidence, which could weigh on the economy and potentially on what is still a healthy job market.

Stocks have been roiled by worries that Trump’s rat -a- tat announcements on tariffs and other policies are creating so much uncertainty that U.S. households and businesses will hold back on spending, which would hurt the economy.

Fed officials will almost certainly keep their key rate unchanged this week. At the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday, they will release their latest quarterly economic projections, which will likely show they expect to cut benchmark interest rates in the U.S. twice this year.

In equities trading, Tesla faltered again, losing 1.7% before the bell. That follows a 4.8% sell-off the day before on news that China’s energy and auto giant BYD announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a gas fill up.

Crude prices are higher in Middle East tensions and ahead of what could be pivotal talks between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on a ceasefire in Ukraine. Benchmark U.S. crude adding 78 cents to $68.36 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 77 cents to $71.84 a barrel.

Amid the uncertainty, gold continues to climb higher. The price for spot market gold is hitting $3,000 an ounce for the first time ever. Considered a safer haven during global economic uncertainty, the precious metal traded around $3,038 early Tuesday.

In Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 rose 0.5%, Germany's DAX added 1.1% and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.2% to finish at 37,845.42.

The Bank of Japan was expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a monetary policy board meeting due to wrap up Wednesday.

Shares in major Japanese trading companies rose after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported increases in its ownership of those companies. Itochu Corp. rose 2.5%, Marubeni Corp. added 3.5%, and Mitsubishi Corp. gained 3.6%, while Mitsui & Co. shares were up 3.1%. The investments, although still under 10% in each company, are seen as an expression of confidence in the Japanese economy.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.5% to 24,740.57, led by buying of tech-related stocks. The Shanghai Composite inched up 0.1% to 3,429.76.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose nearly 0.1% to 7,860.40. South Korea's Kospi inched up less than 0.1% to 2,612.34.

Trading on Indonesia stock exchange was suspended temporarily as the benchmark JSX tumbled as much as 6%. But it bounced back a bit, falling 3.8%.

Investors have been selling shares in state-owned banks after the government launched a sovereign wealth fund, called Danantara, that so far has not proven popular. Worries over U.S. President Donald Trumps tariff increases and other risks have also shaken confidence in the economy, said Budi Frensidy, a professor at the University of Indonesia.

AP writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top 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, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FTSE market information is displayed inside the London Stock Exchange, in the City of London, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A logo is displayed inside the London Stock Exchange, in the City of London, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

FTSE market information is displayed inside the London Stock Exchange, in the City of London, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

FTSE market information is displayed inside the London Stock Exchange, in the City of London, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

A logo is displayed inside the London Stock Exchange, in the City of London, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Currency traders react 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, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

An organization that honored The Associated Press' Nick Ut with its “ photo of the year ” in 1973 for a picture of a girl running from a napalm attack in the Vietnam War says it has “suspended its attribution” to Ut because of doubts over who actually took it.

World Press Photo's report Friday adds to the muddle over an issue that has split the photographic community since a movie earlier this year, “The Stringer,” questioned Ut's authorship. The photo of a naked and terrified Kim Phuc became an iconic symbol of the war's tragedy.

After two investigations, The Associated Press said it found no definitive evidence to warrant stripping Ut's photo credit. The AP said it was possible Ut took the picture, but the passage of time made it impossible to fully prove, and could find no evidence to prove anyone else did.

World Press Photo said its probe found that two other photographers — Nguyen Thanh Nghe, the man mentioned in “The Stringer,” and Huynh Cong Phuc — “may have been better positioned” to take the shot.

“We conclude that the level of doubt is too significant to maintain the existing attribution,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo. “At the same time, lacking conclusive evidence pointing definitively to another photographer, we cannot reassign authorship, either.”

World Press Photo, an organization whose awards are considered influential in photography, won't attempt to recover the cash award given to Ut, a spokeswoman said.

Ut's lawyer, James Hornstein, said his client hadn't spoken to World Press Photo after some initial contact before “The Stringer” was released. “It seems they had already made up their mind to punish Nick Ut from the start,” he said.

Gary Knight, a producer of “The Stringer,” is a four-time judge of the World Press Photo awards and a consultant to the World Press Photo Foundation.

The AP said Friday that its standards “require proof and certainty to remove a credit and we have found that it is impossible to prove exactly what happened that day on the road or in the (AP) bureau over 50 years ago.”

“We understand World Press Photo has taken different action based on the same available information, and that is their prerogative,” the statement said. “There is no question over AP's ownership of the photo.”

Meanwhile, the Pulitzer Prize that Ut won for the photo appears safe. The Pulitzers depend on news agencies who enter the awards to determine authorship, and administrator Marjorie Miller — a former AP senior editor — pointed to the AP’s study showing insufficient proof to withdraw credit. “The board does not anticipate future action at this time,” she said Friday.

David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

FILE - Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, center, flanked by Kim Phuc, left, holds the" Napalm Girl", his Pulitzer Prize winning photo as they wait to meet with Pope Francis during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, May 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)