By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writers

Wall Street veered lower before the opening bell Thursday and oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel as optimism over a possible U.S.-Iran nuclear deal rose.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell 0.4%. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.6%.

President Donald Trump, visiting Qatar as part of a three-country Middle East tour, has urged the nation to use its influence with Iran to persuade its leadership to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear program. A deal would help pave the way to ease sanctions against Tehran.

U.S. benchmark crude oil lost $2.37 to $60.78 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up $2.32 to $63.70 per barrel.

Oil prices surged early this week after China and the U.S. announced an agreement to scale back painfully high tariffs each has imposed on the other for 90 days. But they’ve since retreated after the U.S. Energy Administration reported relatively high crude oil stockpiles that could lead to an oversupply.

In equities markets, Walmart shares rose 2.2% after it reported strong sales but a decline in first quarter profit, and said it has to raise prices due to higher costs from tariffs.

Like many other U.S. companies, Walmart did not issue a profit outlook for the quarter because of the chaotic environment around rapidly changing U.S. trade policy. The company maintained its full-year guidance issued in February.

Foot Locker shares nearly doubled after Dick’s Sporting Goods said it was buying the struggling footwear chain for about $2.4 billion. It’s the second buyout of a major footwear company in as many weeks as business leaders struggle with uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs will impact companies that make many of their products overseas.

Last week Skechers announced that it was being taken private by 3G Capital for $9 billion.

Dick’s said Thursday that it expects to run Foot Locker as a standalone unit and keep the Foot Locker brands, which include Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and the Japanese sneaker brand atmos.

Foot Locker shares soared more than 80% to $23.57 before the bell. Dick’s fell 8.5%.

Elsewhere, China moved to reverse some of its “non-tariff” measures against the U.S. as agreed with Washington in their temporary trade war cease-fire, while demanding that the U.S. side “immediately correct its wrong practices.”

A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson accused the Trump administration of violating world trade rules by announcing that use of Ascend computer chips made by China’s Huawei Technologies violates U.S. export controls.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1% to 37,775.51. Computer chip-related stocks were among the biggest decliners, with Disco Corp. falling 3.2% and Advantest down 1.1%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.8% to 23,453.16, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7% to 3,380.82. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2%, while India’s Sensex rebounded to gain 1.6%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.2% higher to 8,297.50. South Korea’s Kospi gave up 0.7% to 2,621.36.

European markets are mixed at midday with Germany’s DAX shedding 0.1%, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3%.

On Thursday, the government will release its April report for inflation at the wholesale level, as well as for retail sales and weekly jobless claims.

The latest retail data is expected to reflect a meager 0.2% sales increase in April, down significantly from a 1.4% gain the previous month.

The stock market has been relatively steady since surging Monday after the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause in their trade war. The market gained more ground on Tuesday after the government reported that inflation unexpectedly cooled across the country in April.

Trump has delayed a large swath of his most severe tariffs against America’s trading partners, but some import taxes remain in place. Uncertainty over the path ahead continues to hang over businesses and consumers. The on-again-off-again nature of Trump’s trade policy has left companies reluctant to make plans about investment and hiring and consumers nervous about spending.

Businesses continue to trim or withdraw their financial forecasts as they face unpredictable trade policy and cautious consumers.

More than 90% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings for their latest quarter and most reported better-than-expected earnings. But they have cut or scrapped forecasts for the current quarter and even the full year.

Rootsy rockers Los Lobos, hip hop group Arrested Development and “Fight Song” hitmaker Rachel Platten are among the artists set to play the Minnesota State Fair’s largest free stage, the Leinie Lodge Bandshell.

The State Fair’s newly announced free stage entertainment lineup features more than 900 shows throughout the Great Minnesota Get-Together’s 12-day run.

The Leinie Lodge lineup includes:

Rachel Platten (Aug. 21-22): New York native Rachel Platten performed in a Prince and Sly Stone cover band before landing a record deal with Columbia. “Fight Song,” her debut single for the label, hit the Top 10 in seven countries and paved the way for “Stand by You.” Last year, she released her fifth album, “I Am Rachel Platten.”

Arrested Development (Aug. 23-24): Best new artist Grammy winners Arrested Development formed when rappers Speech and Headliner met at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where they were both students. The group’s 1992 debut album “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…” was a critical and commercial hit, but they broke up four years later after the follow-up “Zingalamaduni” failed to find an audience. Speech reunited the group in 2000 and regularly records and tours to this day.

Los Lobos (Aug. 25-26): Mexican American rock band Los Lobos found international fame in 1987 with their cover of “La Bamba.” But they’re also known as songwriters and have been covered by Elvis Costello, Waylon Jennings and Robert Plant. They’ve been nominated for 12 Grammys and have won four.

Tayler Holder (Aug. 27-28): Country artist and TikTok star Tayler Holder is spending much of his summer playing tailgate shows outside of Post Malone concerts. Last month, Billboard called his single “Cry at Our Last Dance” one of his “best outings to date … (it’s) sure to become an enduring wedding dance favorite.”

Karla Perez: Selena the Show (Aug. 29-30): One of the most celebrated Mexican American entertainers of the late 20th century, Selena was known as both the Queen of Tejano Music and the Tejano Madonna. Her fame has lived on after her 1995 murder by a former friend. Karla Perez performs Selena’s biggest hits and is known to be a crowd pleaser.

Ber (Aug. 31-Sept. 1): A Minnesota native who grew up in Walker and Bemidji, Berit Dybing goes by her childhood nickname. She began posting original songs on YouTube in 2021 and went on to score a viral TikTok hit with “Meant to Be,” a collaboration with British singer/songwriter Charlie Oriain.

The full lineup with showtimes for all free stages is online at mnstatefair.org.

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By MEHMET GUZEL, HANNA ARHIROVA and SUZAN FRASER, Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t show up in Turkey on Thursday for proposed direct peace talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was waiting for him in the capital of Ankara after challenging the Kremlin leader to face-to-face discussions on ending their 3-year-old war.

With Putin absent, the Russian delegation was in Istanbul and it wasn’t clear whether the sides would meet for their first such talks since March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor the previous month.

Zelenskyy said the Russian delegation appeared to be merely “a theater prop.” Speaking at the airport in Ankara, he said the next steps for talks would be decided after his upcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who welcomed Zelenskyy with an honor guard at the presidential palace in Ankara.

Putin’s absence punctured hopes of a breakthrough in peace efforts that were given a push 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.

“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting taking place separately in Turkey. “The talks … hopefully may open a new chapter.”

The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N., and continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.

At least five civilians were killed and 29 injured in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia’s army is trying to advance.

A weekend of diplomatic maneuvering

The diplomatic maneuvering began over the weekend 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 later responded by proposing direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. Then came Zelenskyy’s challenge to Putin to hold face-to-face talks.

After days of silence, the Kremlin finally responded Thursday, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Putin has no plans to travel to Istanbul in the next few days.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show. Trump had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off Putin’s apparent decision not to attend.

“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump told reporters as he took part in a business roundtable with executives in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, is leading the Russian team that will also include 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 advisor Yuri Ushakov, both of whom represented Russia at the talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia in March.

The top-level Ukrainian delegation included Defense Minister Rustem 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.

Details about whether, when and where the Ukrainian delegation might meet their Russian counterparts were unclear. Russia said the talks have been postponed until the afternoon “at the initiative of the Turkish side”

Tass said the talks were to take place in a presidential office on the Bosporus, in Istanbul.

Putin met Wednesday evening 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 also attended.

Russia calls the talks a ‘restart’

The Kremlin billed Thursday’s talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in 2022 but quickly fell apart. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something both sides could agree on.

Russia’s delegation then was also headed by Medinsky.

Putin’s proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kickstarted by Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the devastating war swiftly — though it’s been hard to pull off. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated that it might walk away from the peace effort if there was no tangible progress soon.

Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, met with U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday night in the Turkish city of Antalya, which is hosting NATO foreign ministers to discuss new defense investment goals as the U.S. shifts its focus to security challenges away from Europe.

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.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, also in Antalya for the NATO talks, accused Moscow of not being willing to to engage in a serious peace process.

“We have one chair empty, which is the chair of Vladimir Putin. So now I guess the entire world has realized that there’s only one party not willing to engage in serious peace negotiations, and that certainly is Russia,” Valtonen said.

Barrot echoed her sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. “Vladimir 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; and Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey, contributed.

By ZEKE MILLER and AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he was not surprised that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be a no-show for anticipated peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey this week.

Trump, who had pressed for Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in Istanbul, brushed off Putin’s apparent decision to not take part in the expected talks.

“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters as he took part in a business roundtable with executives in Doha on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.

Trump earlier this week floated potentially attending himself. The U.S. president, however, noted on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already in the country for meetings with NATO counterparts. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, also plans to be in Istanbul on Friday for the anticipated Russia-Ukraine talks.

The push for direct talks between Zelenskyy and Putin comes amid a flurry of negotiations aimed at producing a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

Putin was first to propose restarting direct peace talks Thursday with Ukraine in the Turkish city that straddles Asia and Europe. Zelenskyy challenged the Kremlin leader to meet in Turkey in person.

But the Kremlin has said its delegation at the talks will be led by Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky, and include three other officials. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskyy will only sit down with the Russian leader.

Trump, as he wrapped up his visit to Qatar, stopped by a U.S. installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East to speak with U.S. troops. He has used his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.

The installation, al-Udeid Air Base, was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The base houses some 8,000 U.S. troops, down from about 10,000 at the height of those wars.

Trump told the troops that his “priority is to end conflicts, not start them.”

“But I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners,” Trump said.

The Republican president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict. He has urged Qatari officials during his visit to use their influence to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

Trump said progress has been made in the talks but warned a “violent step” could be coming if a deal is not reached.

“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust,” Trump said at the business roundtable. “We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”

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Following the address, Trump departed for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the final leg of his Mideast tour. He will visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the country’s largest mosque. The UAE’s founder, Sheikh Zayed, is buried in the mosque’s main courtyard.

Trump will also be hosted for a state visit in the evening by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Qasr Al Watan palace.

Trump earlier this week met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and announced plans to ease sanctions on the war-torn country. The U.S. has deployed more than 1,000 troops in Syria for years to suppress a return of the Islamic State group.

Trump heaped praise on al-Sharaa — who was tied to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war — after the two met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He called al-Sharaa a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”

It was a stark contrast from earlier years, when al-Sharaa was imprisoned by U.S. troops in Iraq. Until December, there was a $10 million U.S. bounty for his arrest.

Trump said that the opinions of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were big factors in his decision to lift sanctions on Syria.

“President Erdogan called me and said, ‘Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don’t do that, they don’t have a chance,’” Trump said. “So, I did it.”

Madhani reported from Dubai. Associated Press writer Gabe Levin in Dubai contributed to this report.