The US markets ended higher on Wednesday with tech-heavy Nasdaq closing to a new record high. Initially the stocks came under pressure following reports of President Donald Trump discussing the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a meeting with House Republicans. However, markets moved back to the upside after Trump said he's not planning on firing Powell. Besides, report released by Labor Department showed producer prices in the US unexpectedly came in flat in the month of June, which helped to eased inflation concerns. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand was unchanged in June after rising by an upwardly revised 0.3 percent in May. Meanwhile, street had expected producer prices to increase by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month. Moreover, sentiments remained upbeat as the Federal Reserve released a report showing industrial production in the US increased by more than expected in the month of June.

On the sectoral front, significant strength has been seen in pharmaceutical stocks on the upbeat J&J earnings, driving the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index up by 1.6 percent. Further, notable strength was visible among biotechnology and healthcare stocks, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index advancing by 1.5 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index climbing by 1.2 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 231.49 points or 0.53 percent to 44,254.78, Nasdaq rose 52.69 points or 0.25 percent to 20,730.49 and S&P 500 climbed 19.94 points or 0.32 percent to 6,263.70.