Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Tuesday despite another Nasdaq record as US President Donald Trump announced a US trade deal with Indonesia ahead of a deadline still facing numerous other countries.

All Indonesian goods entering the United States will encounter a 19 percent tariff, below the 32 percent previously threatened, according to a Trump social media post.

But the deal comes as US negotiations remain unresolved with some two dozen other trading partners, with the looming US threat of steep tariffs from August 1.

High stock market prices "may be emboldening the administration to keep up the bluster on tariffs," said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management, who characterised most of the most recent Trump trade headlines as unfavourable.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.0 percent to 44,023.

The broad-based S&P declined 0.4 percent to 6,243, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to finish at a second straight record at 20,677.

The Nasdaq record came as Nvidia announced it would resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China, after Washington pledged to remove licensing curbs that had put a stop to exports.

Shares of Nvidia rose four percent.

Markets also digested data showing an uptick in inflation. The consumer price index was up 2.7 percent from a year ago in June, rising from 2.4 percent in May in a move that likely showed some effect from tariffs.

Analysts described the report as mixed, with inflation rising enough to stay a concern, but not so much as to confirm the worst-case outcomes for tariffs.

Several large banks also reported strong earnings, though shares of Wells Fargo fell 5.3 percent following a disappointing forecast for net interest income, a closely watched benchmark.

But Citigroup jumped 3.6 percent after it topped analyst estimates by a wide margin.

Meanwhile MP Materials surged 20 percent after announcing a US$500 million long-term agreement to supply Apple with rare earth magnets. The disclosure comes after the rare earth company last week announced that the US Pentagon had taken a stake in the company.

Apple advanced 0.2 percent. (AFP)