US stocks fell on Tuesday (March 18), as investors cautiously anticipated the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and assessed the potential impact of President Trump's tariff policies.
The Fed is scheduled to announce its latest policy on Wednesday and analysts expect the US central bank to continue to hold interest rates steady, but the other focus will be on the updated summary of economic projections (SEP).
The market is currently estimating a roughly 60% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates this year, although some US central bank officials have warned against the Fed moving too quickly on interest rates and said they would wait to see the impact of tariff policies before making any changes.
This session, large technology stocks continued to fall, weighing on both market scores and sentiment.
Alphabet (Google) fell 2.2% after the company said it would buy Wiz for about $32 billion to boost cybersecurity.
Nvidia shares fell 3.35%, even as CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia is well-positioned to navigate changes in the artificial intelligence industry.
Tesla shares fell 5.34% after brokerage RBC cut its price target on the electric carmaker's shares from $320 to just $120 a share.
Closing the session on March 18: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 260.32 points (-0.62%), to 41,581.31 points. The S&P 500 Index fell 60.46 points (-1.07%), to 5,614.66 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 304.55 points (-1.71%) to 17,504.12.
European stocks rose after the German parliament approved a major spending plan, while investors awaited details from a phone call between the US and Russian leaders over the conflict in Ukraine.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 0.61% at 554.30, with the banking sector index leading the way with a 2.5% gain.
The energy sector followed, and the autos and parts sector each rose by 0.8%. Meanwhile, the region's aerospace and defense index rose 1.4% to close at a record high.
Germany's blue-chip index rose nearly 1%, while an index tracking small-cap stocks rose 3% to a more than three-year high, while mid-cap stocks rose 1.6%.
The positive performance of German stocks came after the country's lower house of parliament approved reforms, including increased defense spending and the creation of a 500 billion euro ($546 billion) infrastructure fund.
Investors also awaited details from a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the US tries to convince Moscow to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Closing the session on March 18: London's FTSE 100 index rose 24.94 points (+0.29%), to 8,705.23 points. Frankfurt's DAX index rose 226.13 points (+0.98%), to 23,380.70 points. The Paris CAC 40 index rose 40.59 points (+0.50%), to 8,114.57 points.
Crude oil prices fell as the market awaited a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss moves to end the conflict in Ukraine.
At the end of the session on March 18, the US benchmark WTI crude oil price fell 0.68 USD (-1.01%), to 66.90 USD/barrel. Brent crude oil price fell 0.51 USD (-0.70%), to 70.56 USD/barrel.