Wall Street stocks finished higher on Thursday following a choppy session as markets weighed worries about US trade tariffs with benign inflation data and a positive Treasury bond auction.

Data showed that US wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent last month, a modest uptick that shows no major pressures so far from US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.

But Trump escalated his rhetoric about tariffs, telling reporters on Wednesday night he would "send letters out" with an ultimatum to other trading partners if they don't accept US terms.

The Dow Jones finished up 0.2 percent at 42,967.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 6,045, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.2 percent to 19,662.

Investor unease about Trump's trade rhetoric is "causing a little bit of selling," said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management.

But Ablin said stocks were buoyed by a sharp retreat in US Treasury yields after the successful auction of 30-year US Treasury notes.

Among individual companies, Boeing dropped 4.9 percent after an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in India claimed more than 240 lives.

The calamity raised fresh questions about Boeing after a number of safety problems. GE Aerospace, which manufactures the 787 engines, dropped 2.3 percent.

Oracle surged 13.3 percent following an upbeat earnings report. The software giant scored eight percent revenue growth in the last year but predicted the coming year would be "even better." (AFP)