Wall Street stocks ended lower in choppy trading on Tuesday as Treasury yields climbed, with investors weighing the likely path of interest rates in a resilient US economy with persistent inflation.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday recent inflation data has not given policymakers enough confidence to ease credit soon, noting that the US central bank may need to keep rates higher for longer than previously thought.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average got a boost from UnitedHealth Group's better-than-expected quarterly results. Real estate and utilities were the biggest drags on the S&P 500, while technology gave the largest boost.

"People are trying to balance this two-sided narrative: US economic growth, which looks really good, and at the same time the inflation picture and interest rates, which will eventually be problematic for the equity market," said James St Aubin, chief investment officer at Sierra Mutual Funds in California.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.17 percent, to 37,799, the S&P 500 lost 0.21 percent, to 5,051 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.12 percent, to 15,865.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are nearly 4 percent off from record high levels reached last month.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rose 2.5 percent after its first-quarter profit beat estimates on resurging income from investment banking.

Bank of America dropped 3.5 percent after the lender posted lower first-quarter profits as its loan loss provisions grew.

Johnson & Johnson slipped 2.1 percent as the drugmaker's revenue missed analysts' estimates after sales from its blockbuster psoriasis drug, Stelara, fell short of expectations.

Tesla slipped 2.7 percent a day after falling over 5 percent on news that the EV marker plans to lay off more than 10 percent of its global workforce. (Reuters)