By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian
(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on Tuesday as markets awaited the Fed's outlook on monetary policy and developments related to U.S. President Donald Trump's call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on ways to end the three-year war in Ukraine.
The Federal Reserve's two-day rate-setting meeting kicks off on Tuesday, and expectations are that the central bank will keep interest rates steady, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Several Fed officials have cautioned against hasty moves, with policymakers awaiting tangible data on tariff impacts.
"The Fed does not want to front run the potential impact of policy, especially since it seems to be on and off. It's a difficult job to walk this tightrope," said Art Hogan, market strategist at B. Riley.
Trump's tariff measures have sparked a trade tussle with major U.S. trading partners, prompting swift retaliatory actions. Analysts said U.S. equities dipped into oversold territory last week.
At 9:54 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206.06 points, or 0.49%, to 41,635.57, the S&P 500 lost 54.92 points, or 0.97%, to 5,620.20, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 295.45 points, or 1.66%, to 17,513.21.
Trump will speak to Putin by phone on Tuesday to try to convince him to accept a ceasefire in the Ukraine war and move towards a more permanent end to the three-year-old conflict.
The call is expected to take place between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET (1300 GMT to 1500 GMT), the Kremlin and a U.S. official said.
"If there should be some positive signs (on a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire), that could reverse the early weakness for markets," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
Nvidia fell 3%. The company is expected to reveal details of its latest AI chip at its annual software developer conference.
Consumer discretionary stocks led sectoral declines on the S&P 500 with a 2% drop, weighed down by Tesla shares.
The EV maker declined 5.9% after brokerage RBC trimmed its price target on the stock, flagging that the company is losing market share in China and Europe.
Alphabet fell 4% after the company said it would buy Wiz for about $32 billion in its biggest deal as the Google parent doubles down on cybersecurity.
Investors flocked to safe-haven assets, with gold trading at a record high, after crossing $3,000 per ounce for the first time last week.
U.S.-listed stocks of gold miners such as Barrick Gold rose 2% and Gold Fields gained 3.6%.
Markets were also taking a pause after all three major indexes gained more than 2% each over the past two sessions as investors capitalized on discounted U.S. equities.
Last week, the S&P 500 tumbled more than 10% from its February peak, signaling the benchmark index entered a correction phase.
The blue-chip Dow index is trading close to correction levels, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq confirmed it is in a correction on March 6.
On the data front, U.S. single-family homebuilding rebounded sharply in February.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.9-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 21 new highs and 75 new lows.
