NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in afternoon trading Friday, but the losses are softening enough to give Wall Street a chance to snap a four-week losing streak.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The index is holding onto a 0.2% gain for the week, which would snap a four-week losing streak.
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People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at the Federal Reserve in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A stock market trader watches his monitors on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
Stock market traders work behind their desks on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
The display board with the Dax curve in the trading hall of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
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, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23 points, or 0.1%, as of 1:25 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.
Technology stocks were the heaviest weights on the market. The sector has been at the center of much of the market's recent sell-off in a reversal from their market-driving gains throughout the previous year. The stocks are among the most valuable on Wall Street and have outsized impacts on the whether the market gains or loses ground.
Nvidia fell 1.1% and Microsoft fell 0.6%.
Stocks have been losing ground for weeks over uncertainty about the direction of the U.S. economy. A trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners threatens to worsen inflation and hurt both consumers and businesses. Inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's goal of 2% and tariffs could hurt the central bank's efforts to ease the rate of inflation.
President Donald Trump has set an April 2 deadline to impose more tariffs on trading partners. It follows a series of other deadlines that have been set for tariffs only to be postponed, sometimes at the last minute.
“Investors are confused, but there's a lot less panic infusing the market,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide.
Businesses have been warning investors about tariffs, inflation and growing uncertainty about the impact to costs.
Nike slumped 5.5% after it forecast a steep decline in revenue in the current quarter, blaming geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs by the Trump administration and a less confident consumer.
FedEx tumbled 7.3% after the package delivery company said it expects revenue to be flat to slightly down year-over-year and lowered its per-share profit guidance.
Homebuilder Lennar fell 3.8% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected forecast for new orders and average sales prices for the current quarter. It said high interest rates, inflation, and waning consumer confidence are weighing on an already tough housing market.
High interest rates have been a key issue for the housing market. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady at its most recent meeting this week as it assesses the potential impact from tariffs and other U.S. policy shifts.
The Fed cut interest rates through the end of last year amid consistently easing inflation rates, but has been holding steady so far in 2025. Lower rates can bolster the economy, but they can also push inflation higher.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has acknowledged that the economy remains solid, but stressed that uncertainty is making forecasting difficult.
A recent batch of economic reports on home sales, industrial production and unemployment reinforced the view that the economy is holding strong. But other reports on consumer sentiment and retail sales have revealed rising caution from consumers.
“We're in really pessimistic territory,” Hackett said. “When everybody is pessimistic, that's when a tiny bit of optimism can move markets pretty strongly.”
In the bond market, Treasury yields mostly held steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.25% from 4.23% late Thursday.
Airlines were under pressure. A fire knocked out power at London’s Heathrow Airport, forcing it to shut down and disrupting global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers. Ryanair Holdings fell 1.9%.
U.S.-based airlines, including American Airlines and United Airlines, held relatively steady.
Troubled airplane maker Boeing surged 5.5% after Trump said Boeing will build the Air Force’s future fighter jet. The company has been facing scrutiny over safety issues for years.
Boeing's rival in the defense sector, Lockheed Martin, slumped 6.8%.
Markets in Europe fell. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.6% after the Bank of England held its main interest rate steady a day earlier.
Germany's DAX slipped 0.5%. German lawmakers voted for a budget that will boost defense and infrastructure spending.
Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at the Federal Reserve in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A stock market trader watches his monitors on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
Stock market traders work behind their desks on the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
The display board with the Dax curve in the trading hall of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Arne Dedert/dpa/dpa via AP)
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, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, both countries said Thursday, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.
Zelenskyy said he is sending a team headed by his defense minister from the Turkish capital Ankara to Istanbul to meet a Russian delegation, even though Moscow's side doesn’t include “anyone who actually makes decisions.”
The Ukrainian side would be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and its aim is “to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war — namely, a ceasefire,” he said.
Few had expected Putin to show up in Turkey, and his absence punctured any hope of significant progress toward ending the 3-year-old war amid peace efforts in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions on Russia that have been threatened by the West.
Zelenskyy, who flew Thursday to Ankara after challenging Putin to sit down with him, accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating team that he described as “a theater prop.”
His proposal to Putin came amid a flurry of maneuvering last weekend as each side sought a diplomatic advantage.
Zelenskyy said he decided to send the delegation to Istanbul to demonstrate to U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine wants to end the fighting.
The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.
At least five civilians were killed and 29 wounded in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia is trying to advance.
The head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said in Istanbul that the representatives were ready to meet Ukrainian officials.
“The task of these direct negotiations with Ukraine is to establish long-term peace sooner or later by eliminating the root causes of this conflict,” he said in a brief statement.
It was not clear when they would meet. Medinsky said late Thursday that the Russian delegation would be waiting for Ukrainian officials at 10 a.m. Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would confer Friday in Istanbul with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Ukrainian delegation, adding that the Russian delegation would be meeting with other members of the U.S. team and that he hoped all sides could get together.
“We don’t have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow. And frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin,” Rubio told reporters in Antalya, Turkey, where he was attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier welcomed Zelenskyy to the presidential palace in Ankara for their own talks. Zelenskyy heads Friday to Albania for a gathering of European officials.
The diplomatic maneuvering began Saturday when European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin responded early Sunday by proposing direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. Then came Zelenskyy's challenge to Putin for face-to-face talks.
After days of silence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov finally said Thursday that Putin had no plans to travel to Istanbul in the next few days.
Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show. He had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off the Kremlin leader’s decision not to attend.
“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump told reporters in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.
Trump said a meeting between him and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until (Putin) and I get together,” he said on Air Force One while traveling from Doha to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Peskov said Putin has no plans to meet with Trump in the coming days.
Medinsky, Putin's aide, is leading the Russian team that also includes three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.
Also absent from the talks were Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, both of whom represented Russia at talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia in March.
The top-level Ukrainian delegation included Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian official said. Zelenskyy will sit at the negotiating table only with Putin, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Putin met Wednesday with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu attended.
The Kremlin billed the Istanbul talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations held there in 2022 that quickly collapsed. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum, not something both sides could agree on. That delegation also was also headed by Medinsky.
Putin's proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kick-started by Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the war swiftly, although it's been hard to pull off. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated it might walk away from the effort if there was no tangible progress soon.
Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, met with Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday night in Antalya.
Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine’s support for Trump’s mediation efforts and thanked the U.S. for its continued involvement, urging Moscow to “reciprocate Ukraine’s constructive steps” toward peace. "So far, it has not,” Sybiha said.
On Thursday morning, Sybiha also met with other European foreign ministers, including his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, who in a post on X reiterated the call for a ceasefire and the threat of “massive sanctions” if Russia doesn't comply.
“We’re in a very difficult spot right now, and we hope that we can find the steps forward that provide for the end of this war in a negotiated way and the prevention of any war in the future," Rubio said Thursday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of “standing in the way of peace.”
“There was only one country that started this conflict — that was Russia. That was Putin. There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace — that is Russia. That is Putin,” he said in a visit to Tirana, Albania.
Barrot echoed that sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians, there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. Putin "is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Illia Novikov and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Aamer Madhani in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey, contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Airport workers prepare a carpet before arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Russian presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, gives an statement to journalists at the Russian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists at the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists at the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
In this handout photo released by Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Turkish security members stand guard at Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks down the stairs from his plane upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures to journalists as he leaves upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian official plane, background, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board lands at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
