Fed comments help steady nervy US stocks

US equities have swerved between positive and negative territory as investors eyed mixed economic data and corporate news while Federal Reserve comments calmed some nerves.

Weaker than expected housing data contrasted with a rosy consumer confidence reading on Tuesday, with the S&P dragging.

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank by assets, warned it expects rising costs for deposits and slowing global economic growth.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told a US Senate Banking Committee the Fed would remain "patient" in deciding on further interest rate hikes and that rising risks and recent soft data should not prevent solid growth.

"You've higher uncertainty today relative to yesterday," Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St Louis, said.

"We've had a market rally going on for about two months. All those things together suggest this would be a good time to take some profits."

The indexes have been bolstered in recent weeks by trade optimism and dovish signals from the Fed, with the benchmark S&P 500 index just 4.7 per cent away from its record closing high in September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 44.89 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 26,136.84, the S&P 500 was 4.99 points, or 0.18 per cent, higher at 2,801.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 14.11 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 7,568.57.

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher. The benchmark's biggest boost was the technology index while the biggest drag was healthcare.

US home-building tumbled to a more than two-year low in December as construction of both single and multi-family housing declined. But the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose more than expected.