Wall Street benchmarks closed modestly higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite achieving its latest record finish, despite a chaotic half hour when news reports suggested U.S. President Donald Trump was set to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

This past April, when President Donald Trump started flirting with the notion of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, stocks and the dollar tumbled because investors worried that even talking about such a move crossed a red line.

Another batch of upbeat U.S. economic data including solid retail sales boosted risk appetite on Thursday, pushing to the back of investors' minds President Donald Trump's attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell and lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh record highs.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Wednesday urged President Trump not to follow through on his threat to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, warning the consequences would be worse

The S&P 500 reverses earlier losses to close just shy of a record.

Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, has been shedding his US bank holdings. At the start of the year, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold about $3.2bn (£2.4bn) of shares in American banks and financial companies.

Japan's exports fell for a second straight month as sweeping U.S. tariffs took a toll on the country's manufacturers, and Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard pulled its $47 billion bid to buy Seven & i Holdings, citing a lack of constructive engagement by the Japanese retailer.

Wall Street ended Wednesday on top as markets grinded out a win in the wake of the latest PPI data and news that President Trump indicated that he will fire Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.