Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher on Wednesday following a choppy session as markets look ahead to key US retail sales and inflation data.

Analysts described the indecisive session as reflective of a quiet day for macroeconomic news after markets soared Monday on a favourable US-China trade announcement before mostly extending those gains on Tuesday.

"Investors are just taking a little bit of a pause after yesterday's strong gains and we're waiting for tomorrow's macro news," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

The Dow Jones finished down 0.2 percent at 42,051.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent to 5,892, while the Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent to 19,146.

After stocks tumbled in early April following sweeping tariff actions announced by US President Donald Trump, the market has rebounded as Trump has retreated from many of the actions.

Analysts have mixed views on whether the market could still go much higher.

Those perspectives were outlined in a note from CFRA Research's Sam Stovall, who concluded that, based on the breadth of recent stock market gains, "CFRA sees additional upside ahead."

Among individual companies, Boeing added 0.8 percent after reaching a large airplane deal with Qatar Airways. Under a deal announced by Trump, Qatar Airways will acquire up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft.

Markets are looking ahead to reports on Thursday on wholesale prices and retail sales for April, as well as earnings from retail behemoth Walmart. (AFP)