Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher on Wednesday following gains by Google parent Alphabet and Apple as markets look ahead to key US jobs data later in the week.

Shares of Alphabet jumped around nine percent after a US judge imposed a number of conditions to restore competition following an August 2024 ruling that Google illegally maintained monopolies in online search, a decision that also boosted Apple shares.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1 percent at 21,497. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 percent to 45,271, while the broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.5 percent to 6,448.

Major US indices retreated on Tuesday, with analysts pointing to heightened uncertainty about trade policy. But stocks were in better shape on Wednesday.

Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones said data pointing to a weakening labour market has helped "cement expectations for a September rate cut, and that is helping bond prices recover."

A Federal Reserve report released Wednesday pointed to a reluctance of companies to hire in several regions of the United States because of uncertainty over the economic outlook.

Markets are set to digest on Friday US labour market data for August.

Futures markets overwhelmingly expect the US central bank to lower rates by a quarter of a percentage point following a poor July jobs report. However, that outlook could shift if the data significantly exceeds expectations.

Among individual companies, Apple rose 3.8 percent.

Tuesday's judicial decision in the Google case preserves the company's distribution agreements, resulting in billions in Google payments to Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.

Macy's rocketed up 20.7 percent after its latest earnings report suggested improvement at the struggling department-store chain. (AFP)