US stocks closed well off earlier highs after a choppy session on Wednesday, as Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell chilled expectations the central bank might be poised to cut rates at its September meeting.

In keeping rates unchanged, as was widely expected, the central bank said "the unemployment rate remains low, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated," in a split decision that saw two governors dissent.

Stocks were modestly higher before the Fed statement as investors assessed the first reading of second-quarter economic growth, which was stronger than expected, but underlying details indicated an economy that was likely losing strength.

However, stocks retreated after Powell said it was too soon to say whether the Fed would cut rates at its next meeting in September and noted that current policy was modestly restrictive but has not been holding back the economy.

"There wasn't too much of a change in the statement here, still showing concerns about how these tariff policies will come through and probably yet to rely on the data that's come through, you can see that just in the GDP report, how much noise is going on in each of these releases right now," said JP Powers, chief investment officer at RWA Wealth Partners in Boston.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 171 points to 44,461, the S&P 500 lost 7 points to 6,362 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 31 points to 21,129. The S&P had risen as much as 0.4 percent on the session before fading.

Megacap companies Microsoft and Meta Platforms were both up more than 6 percent in extended trade after reporting quarterly results while investors were still awaiting earnings from Amazon and Apple on Thursday. (Reuters)