NEW YORK, New York - Upbeat comments from the chairman of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday helped curtail the negative sentiment and confusion over the direction of U.S.-China trade talks.

"We see the current stance of monetary policy as likely to remain appropriate with our outlook of moderate economic growth, a strong labor market, and inflation near our symmetric 2% objective," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday. "The baseline outlook remains favorable ... My colleagues and I see a sustained expansion of economic activity ... as most likely."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went on to record an all-time high, closing 92.1 points, or 0.33% higher at 27,783.59.

The Standard and Poor's 500 also hit a record high, adding 2.13 points, or 0.07%, to 3,093.97.

The Nasdaq Composite slipped 3.99 points, or 0.05%, to 8,482.10.

On foreign exchange markets the U.S. dollar was mixed. The euro fell to 1.1006. The British pound was a fraction weaker at 1.2846. The Japanese yen advanced to 108.77. The Swiss franc was stronger at 0.9892.

The Canadian dollar strengthened slightly to 1.3232. The Australian dollar fell to 0.6834, while across the Tasman the New Zealand dollar rallied to 0.6412.

On overseas markets the FTSE 100 in London dropped 0.19%. The German Dax was down 0.40%, while in Paris the CAC 40 declined 0.21%.

On Asian markets, the big loser was the Hang Seng in Hong Kong which plunged 493.82 points or 1.82% to 26,571.46.

In Japan the Nikkei 225 closed 200.14 points or 0.85% lower at 23,319.87.

The Australian All Ordinaries was off 51.50 points or 0.75% at 6,805.80.

In China, the Shanghai Composite declined 10.59 points or 0.36% to 2,904.23.