Wall Street stocks mostly fell on Wednesday following US inflation data that further clouded the prospects for additional Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index rose to 3.0 percent in January from a year ago, above the 2.8 percent projected by economists, raising questions about whether the Fed's progress on bringing down prices was reversing.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a congressional panel that the figures reinforced the central bank's recent cautious approach to interest rate cuts.

The Dow Jones finished down 0.5 percent at 44,368, while the S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent at 6,051.

But the Nasdaq, which fell in the morning, finished with a modest gain at 19,649.

"Equities were a lot more resilient than I would have expected given the news we had this morning," said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital.

Besides inflation, markets have also been on edge over President Trump's tariff plans.

Among individual companies, CVS Health shot up 15 percent following better-than-expected earnings. The pharmacy chain company projected higher profits in 2025 compared with last year.

Gilead Sciences jumped 7.5 percent after reporting results that beat expectations as it signaled it could launch its latest HIV prevention drug in the summer of 2025.

But Chevron fell 1.6 percent after announcing it will cut 15 to 20 percent of its workforce as part of a reorganisation to save money and to position the oil giant for the long term. (AFP)