US STOCKS-Wall Street falls on tariff worries with Fed meeting in focus

By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian

March 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were lower on Tuesday on worries about the economic impact of U.S. tariff policies ahead of a monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve.

The Fed'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 U.S. central bank officials have cautioned against hasty moves and said they would wait for data to see the impact of tariffs before making any policy shifts.

"I don't think they (Fed) know exactly how this (trade policy) is going to play out," said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.

Markets were 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 following last week's selloff.

The S&P 500 .SPX had tumbled more than 10% from its February peak, signaling the benchmark index entered a correction phase.

The blue-chip Dow is trading close to correction levels, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq confirmed it is in a correction on March 6.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed moves to end the Ukraine war on Tuesday and the White House said their phone call was going well.

At 11:47 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 330.66 points, or 0.79%, to 41,510.97, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 68.07 points, or 1.20%, to 5,606.90, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 314.19 points, or 1.77%, to 17,494.16.

Communication services .SPLRCL led sectoral declines on the S&P 500 with a 2.7% drop.

Alphabet GOOGL.O fell 3% after the company said it would buy Wiz for about $32 billion in its biggest deal as the Google parent doubles down on cybersecurity.

Nvidia NVDA.O declined 2.3%. The company is expected to reveal details of its latest AI chip at its annual software developer conference.

Tesla TSLA.O fell 4.2% after brokerage RBC trimmed its price target on the EV maker's stock, flagging the company is losing market share in China and Europe.

Other megacaps slid, with Amazon.com AMZN.O losing 1.8% and Meta META.O down 4.3%.

Investors flocked to safe-haven assets, with gold XAU= 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 GOLD.N rose 1% and Gold Fields GFI.N gained 3.3%.

On the data front, manufacturing production increased more than expected in February.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.35-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.53-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and 105 new lows.